CVE-2026-76010: Photo Gallery remote code execution vulnerability
high 8.8 published 2026-10-31 · updated 2026-11-02
- Affected versions
- 4.4.1 and older
- Fixed in
- 4.5.0 *
- Latest version
- 4.5.5
- Severity
- High · CVSS 8.8
- Active installs
- 300,000+
- Type
- Remote code execution
* The source does not name a fixed version; this is the first wordpress.org release after the last affected version.
What an attacker needs
- Access: A logged-in account with Custom-level access or higher.
CVSS vector (score by Wordfence): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
What to do now
- Update Photo Gallery to 4.5.0 or newer (the latest is 4.5.5): Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known Photo Gallery issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get nextgen-gallery --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 4.4.1 via the render_image function. This is due to unrestricted mass assignment of caller-supplied meta_data keys onto the image model combined with missing realpath containment in path construction and a bypassable signature check on the public image delivery route. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with custom-level access and above, to execute code on the server. Exploitation requires the authenticated attacker to own at least one NextGEN gallery — a condition that can be satisfied by any Subscriber who was ever granted the 'NextGEN Manage gallery' capability, and that access is retained indefinitely due to the stored gallery-author equality fallback in _can_manage_gallery() even after the capability is revoked.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-76010 nvd.nist.gov
- Wordfence advisory www.wordfence.com
- Code change (fix) plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- Plugin source plugins.trac.wordpress.org
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
The free scan reads the public side of your site and looks for spam pages, hidden redirects, injected scripts and blacklist entries. No login, no install, about a minute.
Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/nextgen-gallery (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-01.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.