CVE-2026-57623

W3 Total Cache <= 2.9.4 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Code Execution

2026-06-29 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.10.0
Affected Plugin: W3 Total Cache
Affected Version: <= 2.9.4
CVSS: 8.1High
Weakness type: CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CVE: CVE-2026-57623

At a glance

CVE-2026-57623 is a high-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.9.4. It carries a CVSS score of 8.1 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.10.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2026, reported by Ananda Dhakal.

Vulnerability Overview

The W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.9.4. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute code on the server.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Reaching this weakness in W3 Total Cache <= 2.9.4 takes no account at all. Code injection means input from a request reaches a language construct that evaluates code, so the attacker's text is executed rather than treated as data.

The injected code runs with the web server's privileges, giving the attacker the same access to the database and filesystem as WordPress itself. For W3 Total Cache the fix is 2.10.0: builds <= 2.9.4 are affected, anything from 2.10.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.10.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: 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: W3 Total Cache 2.10.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Scanner
Login Security

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-57623 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b360f121-449f-43a8-b5e4-1cffddbaac77 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-57623

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in W3 Total Cache

CVSS Vector

8.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityHigh
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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