Netgate pfSense CE up to 2.9.0 Captive Portal HA services_captiveportal_hasync.php captiveportal_load_pfctl backwardsyncip command injection

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as very critical has been discovered in Netgate pfSense CE up to 2.9.0. Affected is the function captiveportal_load_pfctl of the file services_captiveportal_hasync.php of the component Captive Portal HA. Such manipulation of the argument backwardsyncip leads to command injection. This vulnerability is listed as CVE-2026-111229. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Netgate pfSense CE up to 2.9.0. It has been rated as very critical. Affected by this issue is the function captiveportal_load_pfctl of the file services_captiveportal_hasync.php of the component Captive Portal HA. The manipulation of the argument backwardsyncip with an unknown input leads to a command injection vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-77. The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

pfSense CE 2.7.0 through 2.9.0 contains a command injection vulnerability in services_captiveportal_hasync.php that allows users with only the Captive Portal HA privilege to execute commands as root. Attackers can set backwardsyncip to a malicious XMLRPC server returning connected_users with shell metacharacters in ip or mac fields, which captiveportal_load_pfctl passes unescaped to a pfctl shell command.

The advisory is shared for download at github.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-111229 since 10/15/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. Additional levels of successful authentication are necessary for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/15/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1202.

By approaching the search of inurl:services_captiveportal_hasync.php it is possible to find vulnerable targets with Google Hacking.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Type

• Firewall Software

Vendor

• Netgate

Name

• pfSense CE

Version

• 2.0
• 2.1
• 2.2
• 2.3
• 2.4
• 2.5
• 2.6
• 2.7
• 2.8
• 2.9.0

License

• open-source

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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