A HIGH-severity vulnerability identified as CVE-2026-18438 has been published on August 15, 2026 with a CVSS base score of 8.8. This security advisory provides a detailed breakdown of the vulnerability, its potential impact, weakness classification, and actionable steps to protect your systems.
Vulnerability Details
CVE ID: CVE-2026-18438
Severity: HIGH
CVSS Score: 8.8
Published: August 15, 2026
Weakness (CWE): CWE-434
| Attack Vector | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low |
| User Interaction | None |
| Confidentiality Impact | High |
| Integrity Impact | High |
| Availability Impact | High |
Technical Description
The Templately – Elementor & Gutenberg Template Library: 6500+ Free & Pro Ready Templates And Cloud! plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.1 via the fetch_remote_file function. This is due to a filename validation/destination mismatch in fetch_remote_file, where file type validation is performed against the attacker-controlled Content-Disposition filename rather than the URL-path-derived destination filename. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to execute code on the server. A GIF+PHP polyglot file passes wp_check_filetype_and_ext validation as image/gif via the Content-Disposition filename, while the actual destination path is written with a .php extension derived from the URL path, bypassing the unfiltered_upload capability gate entirely. The affected endpoints are reachable at this privilege level because Templately's entire REST API — including the cloud import endpoints used in this attack (/templately/v1/clouds/upload and /templately/v1/insert) — is authorized only by a current_user_can('delete_posts') check, with no administrator or manage_options capability requirement. The same permission gate also allows a contributor to overwrite the site's global Templately cloud connection via the /templately/v1/login endpoint with global_signin set to true. A complete remediation should both correct fetch_remote_file to validate the file type against the actual destination filename rather than the Content-Disposition header (and avoid deriving the write path from the request URL), and restrict state-changing Templately REST routes to an appropriate administrator-level capability.
Potential Impact
If exploited, this high-severity vulnerability could allow an attacker to compromise sensitive data confidentiality, tamper with system integrity, cause a denial of service. Organizations running affected software should treat this as a priority remediation item.
Recommended Action
No official patch is available yet. Until one is released:
- Monitor the official NVD page and vendor channels for patch announcements.
- Restrict access to the affected system or service where possible.
- Apply network-level mitigations such as firewall rules or WAF policies.
- Enable logging and alerting for anomalous activity related to this vulnerability.
- Review your incident response plan in case of active exploitation.
References
Related Security Advisories
- [CRITICAL] CVE-2026-63048 — CVSS 9.4 (July 22, 2026) — CRITICAL / CVSS 9.4
- [CRITICAL] CVE-2026-57827 — CVSS 10.0 (July 11, 2026) — CRITICAL / CVSS 10.0
- [HIGH] CVE-2026-19794 — CVSS 7.2 (August 14, 2026) — HIGH / CVSS 7.2
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