# CVE-2026-38447: osTicket weak API key generation with MD5 and predictable inputs

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-38447-osticket-weak-api-key-generation-with-md5-and-predictable-inputs  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-08-03. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-38447 · Severity: critical · CVSS 9.8 · Published 2026-08-03

osTicket is a popular open-source helpdesk ticketing system. The application generates API keys—long-lived credentials used to access and modify ticket data—using a weak cryptographic method (MD5) combined with predictable information like timestamps and IP addresses. An attacker who obtains a leaked API key hash can recover the actual key through brute-force attack, gaining unauthorized access to all tickets, the ability to create tickets as other users, and permission to trigger administrative tasks.

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-38447 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-38447 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-38447?** Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.8, published 3 August 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Enhancesoft LLC osTicket <= 1.18.3.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-38447?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-38447 attacked?** It is attacked over the network.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-38447?** Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability is a use of broken cryptographic algorithms (CWE-327) and weak PRNG (CWE-338) in the API key generation function. osTicket's include/class.api.php (line 149) constructs API keys as md5(time() . $vars['ipaddr'] . md5(Misc::randCode(16))). MD5 is cryptographically broken and can be computed at billions of hashes per second on GPUs. The inputs are also predictable: Unix timestamps can be approximated from logs or ticket metadata, and client IP addresses are often observable or documented. An attacker with a leaked API key hash, approximate creation time, and the target IP can materially reduce the search space and recover the key via brute-force. No authentication is required to exploit a recovered key; admin credentials are only needed to initially generate it. As of the advisory publication, no patched version had been released. The remediation is to use a cryptographically secure PRNG (e.g., bin2hex(random_bytes(32))) instead of MD5 and remove dependency on timestamp and IP address.

## Affected products

- Enhancesoft LLC osTicket <= 1.18.3

## Timeline

- 2026-08-03: disclosed
- other: Unpatched as of advisory publication

## References

- [https://github.com/fr3akhacks/cve-disclosures/blob/master/osTicket/CVE-2026-38447.md](https://github.com/fr3akhacks/cve-disclosures/blob/master/osTicket/CVE-2026-38447.md)
- [https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket/blob/v1.18.3/include/class.api.php](https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket/blob/v1.18.3/include/class.api.php)