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Public proof of concept

CVE-2026-5524

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2026-07-02
  • WeaknessCWE-434

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 Divi Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Upload leading to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to and including 5.1.8. This is due to insufficient file extension validation in the do_image_upload() function where user-supplied input from the acceptFileTypes POST parameter is directly interpolated into a regular expression used to validate uploaded files. Attackers can specify PHP-executable extensions such as .phtml, .phar, .php5, or .php7 to bypass the plugin's .htaccess protection which only blocks .php files specifically. Additionally, on Nginx-based servers, the .htaccess protection is completely ineffective as Nginx does not process .htaccess files. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers (who can obtain a nonce from any public page containing a form) to upload executable PHP files to the publicly accessible /wp-content/uploads/de_fb_uploads/ directory and achieve Remote Code Execution by accessing the uploaded file via HTTP. The vulnerability was partially patched in version 5.1.3.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2026-07-0213:17CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

Neither OSV.dev nor the vendor advisories we read list affected versions for CVE-2026-5524 yet.

Full record on NVD

Fix

No fix published by the sources we read yet. NVD record

Detection

read 2026-11-01 01:02 UTC
Nuclei template
available
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
2026-07-02
Last Modified
2026-10-25
NVD status
Deferred
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-7ch9-34jx-wqhr

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-5524?

The Divi Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Upload leading to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to and including 5.1.8. This is due to insufficient file extension validation in the do_image_upload() function where user-supplied input from the acceptFileTypes POST parameter is directly interpolated into a regular expression used to validate uploaded files. Attackers can specify PHP-executable extensions such as .phtml, .phar, .php5, or .php7 to bypass the plugin's .htaccess protection which only blocks .php files specifically. Additionally, on Nginx-based servers, the .htaccess protection is completely ineffective as Nginx does not process .htaccess files. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers (who can obtain a nonce from any public page containing a form) to upload executable PHP files to the publicly accessible /wp-content/uploads/de_fb_uploads/ directory and achieve Remote Code Execution by accessing the uploaded file via HTTP. The vulnerability was partially patched in version 5.1.3.

Is CVE-2026-5524 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2026-5524 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 3.5% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-5524?

CVE-2026-5524 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