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CriticalVulnerabilityCVE-2026-119419updated 30 Oct 2026, 16:09 UTC

CakePHP: SQL injection via unchecked database collation names

Attackers who can control a database sort-order (collation) setting in CakePHP can slip extra database commands into a query. That can let them read, change or delete data.

Official, 2 sources
SeverityCriticalCVSS 9.2 of 10
Being exploited?UnclearNo reports either way yet
Fix available?UnclearNo fixed version published in the sources yet
How sure is this?Official, 2 sourcesBacked by an official source

How the attack works simplified

  1. 1AttackerControls a collation name value
  2. 2CakePHP codePasses value to COLLATE without validation
  3. 3Database queryAppended text runs as SQL
  4. ResultAttacker runs SQL with app database rights

What happened

CakePHP through 5.4.3 does not validate collation values passed to StringExpression and IdentifierExpression, so text appended after an unquoted COLLATE clause is executed as SQL.

Why it is dangerous: Successful injection runs with the database connection's privileges, so attackers could read or modify any data that the application's database user can access, on any database driver.

Are you affected?

You are affected if you run CakePHP 5.4.3 or earlier and pass user-controlled values into collation settings used with StringExpression, IdentifierExpression, or setCollation().

CakePHP through 5.4.3 (all database drivers)

What to do

  1. Check whether your code passes any user-supplied input to collation names in StringExpression, IdentifierExpression, or setCollation().
  2. Restrict collation values to a fixed allowlist of known safe names until a patched CakePHP release is installed.
  3. Watch the CakePHP project and the GitHub advisory for the patched version and upgrade as soon as it is released.

Timeline

  1. 30 Oct 2026, 12:16 UTC
    Publicly disclosed
  2. 30 Oct 2026, 12:16 UTC
    Reported by NVD · NVD
  3. 30 Oct 2026, 12:16 UTC
    Picked up by Zero Radar
  4. 30 Oct 2026, 16:09 UTC
    GitHub Advisory reported on it · GitHub Advisory

Sources 2 reports, oldest first

Official vendor, government CERT or advisory database

Technical details

ID
CVE-2026-119419 · GHSA-6q38-2qcr-3x34
CVSS
9.2 / 10
EPSS
0.4% chance of exploitation within 30 days
Disclosed
30 Oct 2026, 12:16 UTC
On Zero Radar
30 Oct 2026, 12:16 UTC (0 min after disclosure)
Last change
30 Oct 2026, 16:09 UTC

The plain-language parts and the attack diagram were written by an AI model (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5) from the sources above. Facts like versions, exploitation and dates come from the sources themselves. How Zero Radar works

CakePHP: SQL injection via unchecked database collation names · Zero Radar