CVE-2026-62002 in Meals & Wheels Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/29/2026
Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection in Meals & Wheels <= 1.1.13 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/29/2026
The vulnerability identified as an unauthenticated PHP object injection flaw within the Meals and Wheels plugin, specifically affecting versions up to 1.1.13, represents a critical security risk for WordPress-based websites that utilize this software. This type of vulnerability arises from improper handling of user-supplied input during the deserialization process in PHP applications. In standard web application architecture, serialization is often used to convert complex data structures into a storable format, while deserialization reverses this process to reconstruct objects in memory. When an application fails to validate or sanitize these inputs before passing them to functions such as unserialize(), it creates an entry point for attackers to manipulate the internal state of the application. In the context of Meals and Wheels, this flaw allows any remote attacker with network access to inject malicious serialized data without requiring valid credentials or authentication tokens.
The technical mechanism behind PHP object injection relies on the existence of "magic methods" within classes loaded by the target application. These special methods, such as __wakeup(), __destruct(), or __toString(), are automatically invoked when an object is deserialized. If a developer has defined these methods in a way that performs sensitive operations—such as file system access, database queries, or execution of external commands—an attacker can craft a specific serialized payload containing a reference to one of these classes and their associated properties. By submitting this crafted input through vulnerable endpoints within the plugin, typically via GET or POST parameters, the application inadvertently instantiates the malicious object. This leads to arbitrary code execution on the server hosting the WordPress instance, effectively granting the attacker full control over the underlying operating system depending on the web server's privileges.
From an operational perspective, the impact of this vulnerability is severe and multifaceted. Once successful exploitation occurs, attackers can compromise the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the affected website. Common consequences include defacement of the site content, theft of sensitive user data such as personal information or payment details stored in the WordPress database, and the installation of backdoors for persistent access. Furthermore, compromised servers are frequently repurposed to launch attacks against other systems on the network, serve malware to visitors through drive-by downloads, or participate in distributed denial-of-service campaigns. Because the vulnerability is unauthenticated, it can be exploited by automated bots scanning the internet for vulnerable instances, leading to rapid and widespread compromise of sites running outdated versions of the plugin without any direct interaction from site administrators.
This flaw aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) ID 502, which describes Deserialization of Untrusted Data. It also maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059.008, specifically PHP Object Injection, under the Execution tactic. The lack of authentication required for exploitation places it in a high-risk category within vulnerability scoring systems like CVSS, typically resulting in critical severity ratings due to the ease of exploitation and the potential for complete system compromise. Security researchers emphasize that this is not merely an issue with the plugin code but reflects broader architectural weaknesses where input validation is insufficiently enforced during object reconstruction processes.
Mitigation strategies must be implemented immediately to address this risk. The primary and most effective solution is to upgrade the Meals and Wheels plugin to version 1.1.14 or later, where the developers have presumably patched the deserialization logic by implementing strict type checking, whitelisting allowed classes during unserialization, or replacing unsafe serialization functions with safer alternatives like JSON encoding for data exchange. For organizations unable to update immediately due to compatibility constraints, temporary mitigations include disabling PHP object injection capabilities entirely if possible through server-level configurations, although this may break other functionalities relying on serialized objects. Additionally, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) can help detect and block known exploitation patterns associated with malicious serialized payloads before they reach the application logic. Regular security audits and adherence to secure coding practices that prioritize input validation are essential for preventing similar vulnerabilities in future development cycles.