Payload: Pre-Authentication Account Takeover via Parameter Injection in Password Recovery

CVE-2026-34751 → View on GitHub ↗ View on CVE.org ↗ View on NVD ↗

Description

Impact

A vulnerability in the password recovery flow could allow an unauthenticated attacker to perform actions on behalf of a user who initiates a password reset.

Users are affected if:

  • They are using Payload version < v3.79.1 with any auth-enabled collection using the built-in forgot-password functionality.

Patches

Input validation and URL construction in the password recovery flow have been hardened.

Users should upgrade to v3.79.1 or later.

Workarounds

There are no complete workarounds. Upgrading to v3.79.1 is recommended.

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
critical
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2026-04-01 16:08:02 UTC
Updated
2026-04-08 18:19:11 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2026-04-01 16:08:02 UTC
NVD published
2026-04-01

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
0.07% 21.02%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
9.1 3.1 —
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

Identifiers

Type Value
GHSA GHSA-hp5w-3hxx-vmwf ↗
CVE CVE-2026-34751 ↗

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-472 External Control of Assumed-Immutable Web Parameter
CWE-640 Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

Credits

  • wsk3r (reporter)

Affected packages (2)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
npm payload < 3.79.1 3.79.1 —
npm @payloadcms/graphql < 3.79.1 3.79.1 —

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence