CVE-2026-4132

HIGH
Published Apr 22, 2026 Modified Apr 22, 2026 CWE-73

Description

The HTTP Headers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to External Control of File Name or Path leading to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to and including 1.19.2. This is due to insufficient validation of the file path stored in the 'hh_htpasswd_path' option and lack of sanitization on the 'hh_www_authenticate_user' option value. The plugin allows administrators to set an arbitrary file path for the htpasswd file location and does not validate that the path has a safe file extension (e.g., restricting to .htpasswd). Additionally, the username field used for HTTP Basic Authentication is written directly into the file without sanitization. The apache_auth_credentials() function constructs the file content using the unsanitized username via sprintf('%s:{SHA}%s', $user, ...), and update_auth_credentials() writes this content to the attacker-controlled path via file_put_contents(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to write arbitrary content (including PHP code) to arbitrary file paths on the server, effectively achieving Remote Code Execution.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

7.2
HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0051
Probability of exploitation
0.66%
Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-73 CWE-73

References

Other References

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L1296 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L1298 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L1403 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L671 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L722 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/tags/1.19.2/http-headers.php#L97 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/trunk/http-headers.php#L1296 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/trunk/http-headers.php#L1298 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/trunk/http-headers.php#L1403 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/http-headers/trunk/http-headers.php#L671

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-4132? +
The HTTP Headers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to External Control of File Name or Path leading to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to and including 1.19.2. This is due to insufficient validation of the file path stored in the 'hh_htpasswd_path' option and lack of sanitization on the 'hh_www_authenticate_user' option value. The plugin allows administrators to set an arbitrary file path for the htpasswd file location and does not validate that the path has a safe file extension (e.g., restricting to .htpasswd). Additionally, the username field used for HTTP Basic Authentication is written directly into the file without sanitization. The apache_auth_credentials() function constructs the file content using the unsanitized username via sprintf('%s:{SHA}%s', $user, ...), and update_auth_credentials() writes this content to the attacker-controlled path via file_put_contents(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to write arbitrary content (including PHP code) to arbitrary file paths on the server, effectively achieving Remote Code Execution. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.2 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2026-4132? +
CVE-2026-4132 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.2 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0051, placing it in the 1th percentile for exploitation probability.
How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-4132? +
You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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