The Image Optimizer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion in versions up to and including 1.7.4.
CVE-2026-5821 · GHSA-rhv9-h5xx-r8m5 · EUVD-2026-41247 · published 2 Jul 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 8.1 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-5821?
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Who is affected
- elemntor Image Optimizer – Compress Images and Convert to WebP or AVIF: 0 ≤1.7.4
How to check
- Find out whether you run the affected product and which version, then compare it with the versions above.
How to fix
Copies a prompt for Claude Code, Cursor or Codex that asks it to check whether you run this product.
- Apply the vendor's update or mitigation from the references below. If there is none yet, limit exposure of the affected service until there is.
- If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
The Image Optimizer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion in versions up to and including 1.7.4. This is due to insufficient path validation in the Image_Backup::remove() function where backup file paths stored in post meta are used directly in file deletion operations without verifying they are within the uploads directory. The plugin stores backup file paths in the image_optimizer_metadata post meta field and trusts these paths completely when deleting backups on the delete_attachment hook. An authenticated attacker with Author-level access can edit the image_optimizer_metadata post meta on their own attachments via WordPress's Custom Fields interface, injecting arbitrary absolute file paths into the backups array. When the attacker subsequently deletes the attachment, the plugin calls File_System::delete() on each path without validation. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server within the web server's filesystem permissions, potentially leading to denial of service, data loss, or security degradation.
Check your whole app
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References
- www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a1a00374-e9d6-46f9-a28c-cb7768505787?source=cve
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/trunk/classes/image/image-backup.php#L117
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/tags/1.7.3/classes/image/image-backup.php#L117
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/trunk/modules/backups/components/handle-backups-removing.php#L19
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/tags/1.7.3/modules/backups/components/handle-backups-removing.php#L19
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/trunk/classes/image/image-meta.php#L97
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/image-optimization/tags/1.7.3/classes/image/image-meta.php#L97
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3557772%40image-optimization&new=3557772%40image-optimization&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- research.cleantalk.org/cve-2026-5821
Merged from ENISA EUVD. Last updated 28 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON