W3 Total Cache Plugin up to 2.10.4 on WordPress path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in W3 Total Cache Plugin up to 2.10.4. Impacted is an unknown function. This manipulation causes path traversal. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-18051. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in W3 Total Cache Plugin up to 2.10.4. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

The W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin before 2.10.5 does not properly validate the request path it uses to build cache file names, allowing unauthenticated attackers to write a file into any existing directory on the server, inside or outside the web root, overwriting whatever occupies the target name. On Apache, the same flaw overwrites the site's .htaccess files, which breaks the site and can strip hardening rules that other security measures rely on.

It is possible to read the advisory at wpscan.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-18051 since 07/28/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. The exploitation doesn't need any form of authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1006 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 2.10.5 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Type

• WordPress Plugin

Name

• W3 Total Cache Plugin

Version

• 2.10.0
• 2.10.1
• 2.10.2
• 2.10.3
• 2.10.4

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

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• 🔒
• 🔒

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