CVE-2026-18048

Photo Album Plus <= 9.2.07.1 - Arbitrary File Deletion to Unauthenticated Arbitrary ZIP File Deletion

2026-08-10 00:00
Erwan LR

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 9.2.07.002
Affected Plugin
WP Photo Album Plus
Affected Version
<= 9.2.07.1
CVSS
9.1Critical
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE-2026-18048
View all WP Photo Album Plus vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-18048 is a critical-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the WP Photo Album Plus WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 9.2.07.1. It carries a CVSS score of 9.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 9.2.07.002; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Erwan LR.

Vulnerability Overview

The Photo Album Plus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Deletion in versions up to, and including, 9.2.07.1. This is due to insufficient validation of a user supplied path. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can lead to a site takeover when a configuration file is removed.

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 privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on integrity, availability.

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Reaching this weakness in WP Photo Album Plus <= 9.2.07.1 takes no account at all. Path traversal happens when user-controlled text is used to build a filesystem path without being constrained to an intended directory, so sequences like ../ walk the resolved path somewhere else.

Depending on the operation, it means reading files outside the intended folder — wp-config.php being the usual target — or writing to and deleting paths the web server can touch. For WP Photo Album Plus the fix is 9.2.07.002: builds <= 9.2.07.1 are affected, anything from 9.2.07.002 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 9.2.07.002, 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. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Photo Album Plus 9.2.07.002 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-18048https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ae000d8a-802d-440e-9fbf-8c3b0a4a7f02https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-18048

Related records

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