Multiple XenForo Flaws Expose Forums to RCE, Scope Abuse, and Template Bypass
XenForo disclosed and patched three high-severity vulnerabilities affecting multiple 2.2 and 2.3 releases, including remote code execution, OAuth2 authorization abuse, and a template method call restriction bypass. The most severe issue, CVE-2026-35056, allows an authenticated but malicious administrator with admin control panel access to execute arbitrary code on the server, affecting versions before 2.3.9 and 2.2.18. The flaw is classified as CWE-94 and carries a high-impact CVSS vector indicating compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Two additional XenForo flaws affect authorization controls in the platform. CVE-2025-71278 impacts versions before 2.3.5 and allows OAuth2 client applications to request unauthorized scopes, potentially granting access beyond intended permissions; it is mapped to CWE-863. CVE-2025-71281 affects versions before 2.3.7 and stems from a loose prefix match in template callback and variable method-call handling, enabling unauthorized method invocation from templates. XenForo addressed the issues in security releases 2.3.5, 2.3.7, 2.3.9, and 2.2.18, with advisories also published by VulnCheck.

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How this story unfolded
4 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
VulnCheck receives and publishes three XenForo CVE records
VulnCheck disclosure records for CVE-2025-71278, CVE-2025-71281, and CVE-2026-35056 were newly received on April 1, 2026, documenting the vulnerabilities, affected versions, severity scoring, and references to XenForo security releases.
XenForo 2.2.18 and 2.3.9 fix authenticated admin RCE
XenForo released versions 2.2.18 and 2.3.9 to address CVE-2026-35056, a remote code execution vulnerability that allowed an authenticated malicious admin with admin panel access to execute arbitrary code on the server.
XenForo 2.3.7 fixes template method call restriction bypass
XenForo released version 2.3.7 with a security fix for a vulnerability later tracked as CVE-2025-71281. The flaw affected versions before 2.3.7 and stemmed from loose prefix matching for methods callable from templates, enabling unauthorized method invocations.
XenForo 2.3.5 fixes OAuth2 unauthorized scope request flaw
XenForo released version 2.3.5 with a security fix for an issue later tracked as CVE-2025-71278, which allowed OAuth2 client applications to request unauthorized scopes in XenForo 2.3 versions before 2.3.5.
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Sources
3 references tracked. Mallory keeps watching after this page renders.
CVE-2025-71278 - XenForo OAuth2 Unauthorized Scope Request
cvefeed.io
Open sourceCVE-2025-71281 - XenForo Template Method Call Restriction Bypass
cvefeed.io
Open sourceCVE-2026-35056 - XenForo Remote Code Execution via Authenticated Admin
cvefeed.io
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