INSPECTING ARCHIVED INTELLIGENCE (OUTDATED VERSION).

Roundcube SQL Injection CVE-2026-48842 Exploited in the Wild

| 2026-09-28 05:50 CRITICAL HIGH
Executive Summary AI-generated
The Roundcube vulnerability, CVE-2026-48842, has been exploited in the wild due to a critical contextual issue. This flaw affects versions of Roundcube before 1.6.16 and 1.7.1, but its presence is not isolated from other vulnerabilities. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's advisory warns that an unauthenticated attacker can inject SQL into Roundcube's database backend through the virtuser_query plugin, potentially exposing mail account credentials and stored messages. This highlights a significant risk to email applications with vulnerable databases. Multiple attacks have targeted multiple Roundcube flaws in the past, emphasizing the need for timely patches from the software developers.
Technical Mitigations AI-generated
* Implement input validation and sanitization for user-submitted data, particularly for email addresses and usernames, to prevent pre-authentication SQL injection attacks. * Regularly update and patch vulnerable software, including Roundcube Webmail, to ensure that known exploits are addressed before they can be used against the system. * Monitor web application logs and security alerts to detect potential exploitation attempts in real-time, allowing for swift action to be taken if necessary. * Educate users about the risks of SQL injection attacks and provide guidance on how to protect themselves, such as avoiding suspicious input or using prepared statements when interacting with databases.
Intelligence Metadata
Actors / Malware / CVEs / Campaigns
APT28APT28Winter VivernWinter Vivern CVE-2020-12641CVE-2020-12641 CVE-2021-44026CVE-2021-44026 CVE-2025-49113CVE-2025-49113 CVE-2026-48842CVE-2026-48842 CVE-2023-5631CVE-2023-5631 CVE-2020-35730CVE-2020-35730 CVE-2025-68461CVE-2025-68461
Target & Sectors
NORTH_AMERICA NORTH_AMERICA governmentgovernment
Incident Timeline
‎May 2022
Threat actors exploited a Roundcube Pre-Auth SQL Injection flaw in the wild since May 2022.
infrastructure Roundcube
general_metric 11 Roundcube Webmail
‎February 2026
Threat actors exploited a Roundcube Pre-Auth SQL Injection flaw in the wild.
vulnerability CVE-2025-49113
attribution CVE-2025-68461
‎May 24, 2026
Roundcube released the fixes on May 24, 2026.
infrastructure Roundcube
‎May 2026
Threat actors exploited a Roundcube pre-auth SQL injection flaw in the wild using Patches for the vulnerability released by Roundcube in May 2026 as part of version 1.6.16 and 1.7.1.
infrastructure Roundcube
infrastructure 1.6.16
infrastructure 1.7.1
‎July 2026
Threat actors used a known security flaw in Roundcube to exploit and deliver web shells or a post-exploitation tool called VShell.
source_region China
infrastructure Roundcube
organisation VShell
‎September 21
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security issued a warning on September 21 about the Roundcube pre-auth SQL injection flaw in its software.
organisation The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
‎September 23, 2026
Threat actors exploited a pre-auth SQL injection flaw in Roundcube, compromising more than 523,000 exposed instances.
infrastructure Roundcube
organisation the Shadowserver Foundation
general_metric 523,000 Roundcube instances
general_metric 10 internet
‎Sep 25, 2026
Threat actors exploited a pre-authentication SQL injection flaw in Roundcube, a popular open-source web server software.
‎September 28, 2026
Roundcube SQL injection CVE-2026-48842 is now being exploited in the wild, putting unpatched webmail servers at risk of database compromise.
infrastructure Roundcube
vulnerability CVE-2026-48842
‎2026/09/28
Roundcube vulnerabilities are being actively exploited in the wild.
infrastructure Roundcube
organisation VShell
infrastructure 1.6
infrastructure 1.6.16
infrastructure 1.7
infrastructure 1.7.1
organisation SentinelOne
organisation The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security
organisation Vulnerability / Email Security
organisation SQL
infrastructure 8.1
threat_actor Winter Vivern
threat_actor APT28
organisation IMAP
organisation cPanel
organisation SecurityAffairs
organisation PHP
organisation the Cyber Centre
organisation NFL
organisation CHANEL
Tactical Metrics
Metrics
infrastructure
‎Roundcube
Affected Product
Metrics
infrastructure
‎1.6
Software Version
Metrics
infrastructure
‎1.6.16
Software Version
Metrics
infrastructure
‎1.7
Software Version
Metrics
infrastructure
‎1.7.1
Software Version
Metrics
infrastructure
‎8.1
Software Version
Intelligence Sources