LimeSurvey up to 7.0 RemoteControl API CREATE findUninvited sql injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as critical has been identified in LimeSurvey up to 7.0. The impacted element is the function TokenDynamic::findUninvited of the file /UPDATE/DELETE/DROP/CREATE of the component RemoteControl API. Such manipulation leads to sql injection. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-50636. The attack may be launched remotely. There is no exploit available. A patch should be applied to remediate this issue.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in LimeSurvey up to 7.0. Affected by this issue is the function TokenDynamic::findUninvited of the file /UPDATE/DELETE/DROP/CREATE of the component RemoteControl API. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a sql injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-89. The product constructs all or part of an SQL command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended SQL command when it is sent to a downstream component. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The RemoteControl API methods invite_participants and remind_participants pass a caller-supplied token-ID array into TokenDynamic::findUninvited(), which concatenates the values directly into a tid IN ('...') SQL clause without parameterization or input validation. A remote, authenticated attacker holding the tokens/update permission on a survey can inject a crafted array element to perform SQL injection. Because LimeSurvey configures its PDO connection with emulated prepared statements (emulatePrepare = true) and does not disable MySQL multi-statements, the injection supports stacked queries: the attacker can append arbitrary additional statements (INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE/DROP/CREATE) after the original SELECT. This permits both arbitrary read of any data in the database, such as administrator bcrypt password hashes (lime_users), survey response PII, session records, and global settings, all recoverable via a SLEEP() time-based blind oracle, and arbitrary write/destruction of that data, including directly overwriting the administrator password hash for immediate account takeover or dropping/truncating tables. Reads and writes extend to any schema the application's database user can access. The RemoteControl interface (RPCInterface = json/xml) must be enabled, which is not the default.

The weakness was shared by McCaulay Hudson. The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-50636 since 06/05/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. This vulnerability is assigned to T1505 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Applying a patch is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-35770). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

• Survey Software

Name

• LimeSurvey

Version

• 7.0

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/LimeSurvey/LimeSurvey/

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If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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