URL Image Importer <= 1.0.6 - Authenticated (Author+) Arbitrary File Upload
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.0.7
- Affected Version
1.0 – 1.0.6- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
- CVE
CVE-2025-12138
At a glance
CVE-2025-12138 is a high-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the URL Image Importer WordPress plugin, affecting versions 1.0 – 1.0.6. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Author level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2025, reported by kr0d.
Vulnerability Overview
The URL Image Importer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to insufficient file type validation in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.6. This is due to the plugin relying on a user-controlled Content-Type HTTP header to validate file uploads in the 'uimptr_import_image_from_url()' function which writes the file to the server before performing proper validation. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to upload arbitrary files on the affected site's server which may make remote code execution possible via the uploaded PHP file.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
URL Image Importer 1.0 – 1.0.6 carries this weakness at uimptr_import_image_from_url(), and reaching it takes an account at Author level or above. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.
If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For URL Image Importer the fix is 1.0.7: builds 1.0 – 1.0.6 are affected, anything from 1.0.7 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.0.7, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Author access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: URL Image Importer 1.0.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in URL Image Importer – Import External Images to the Media Library from URL, CSV & XML
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