TL;DR
A critical vulnerability in WordPress, scoring 9.2/10, allows unauthenticated attackers to exploit page-template resolution, potentially leading to remote code execution (RCE). This flaw affects all versions since 2016, necessitating immediate attention from site administrators.
✦ Why It Matters
Update WordPress and review theme configurations to prevent potential remote code execution attacks.
Key Takeaways
Full Summary
WordPress has a serious vulnerability that enables unauthenticated attackers to exploit the get_page_template() function, allowing them to include arbitrary local .php files outside the active theme directories. This issue arises if certain conditions are met, such as the active theme containing a directory starting with 'page-' and a readable .php file existing on the server.
Notably, popular themes like Twenty Twelve and Twenty Fourteen are affected, along with third-party themes like Neve and Hestia. The vulnerability can lead to remote code execution (RCE) if the server environment is configured in a specific way, particularly with PHP versions prior to 8.5.
WordPress has released version 7.1.2 to address this vulnerability, and the fix has been backported to all versions back to 4.7. The vulnerability was discovered and responsibly disclosed by Robert Ressl.
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