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Public proof of concept

CVE-2019-19589

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2019-12-05
  • WeaknessCWE-436

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

The Lever PDF Embedder plugin 4.4 for WordPress does not block the distribution of polyglot PDF documents that are valid JAR archives. Note: It has been argued that "The vulnerability reported in PDF Embedder Plugin is not valid as the plugin itself doesn't control or manage the file upload process. It only serves the uploaded PDF files and the responsibility of uploading PDF file remains with the Site owner of Wordpress installation, the upload of PDF file is managed by Wordpress core and not by PDF Embedder Plugin. Control & block of polyglot file is required to be taken care at the time of upload, not on showing the file. Moreover, the reference mentions retrieving the files from the browser cache and manually renaming it to jar for executing the file. That refers to a two step non-connected steps which has nothing to do with PDF Embedder.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2019-12-0504:15CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD · CISA-ADP
Wp-pdf pdf embedder
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.4= 4.4no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2019-12-05
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-7m2h-6596-w2g6

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-19589?

The Lever PDF Embedder plugin 4.4 for WordPress does not block the distribution of polyglot PDF documents that are valid JAR archives. Note: It has been argued that "The vulnerability reported in PDF Embedder Plugin is not valid as the plugin itself doesn't control or manage the file upload process. It only serves the uploaded PDF files and the responsibility of uploading PDF file remains with the Site owner of Wordpress installation, the upload of PDF file is managed by Wordpress core and not by PDF Embedder Plugin. Control & block of polyglot file is required to be taken care at the time of upload, not on showing the file. Moreover, the reference mentions retrieving the files from the browser cache and manually renaming it to jar for executing the file. That refers to a two step non-connected steps which has nothing to do with PDF Embedder.

Is CVE-2019-19589 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2019-19589, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2019-19589?

CVE-2019-19589 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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Sources for this record