WordPress security changelog
HIGH CVE-2026-4132 Deferred

HTTP Headers: Code execution

HTTP Headers is affected by code execution. Exploitation requires at least administrator-level access. Successful exploitation can run attacker-controlled code in the WordPress hosting account. The published affected range is <= 1.19.2.

CVE / CNA score 7.2 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com
NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.
Component
HTTP Headers
Plugin slug
http-headers
Affected
<= 1.19.2
Safe version
> 1.19.2
Published
Apr 22, 2026
Weakness
CWE-73 — External Control of File Name or Path

This CVE was published Apr 22, 2026 and is one of 7 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

Update HTTP Headers to a release after 1.19.2, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.

A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.

Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.

Source record

Technical description

The HTTP Headers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to External Control of File Name or Path leading to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to and including 1.19.2. This is due to insufficient validation of the file path stored in the 'hh_htpasswd_path' option and lack of sanitization on the 'hh_www_authenticate_user' option value. The plugin allows administrators to set an arbitrary file path for the htpasswd file location and does not validate that the path has a safe file extension (e.g., restricting to .htpasswd). Additionally, the username field used for HTTP Basic Authentication is written directly into the file without sanitization. The apache_auth_credentials() function constructs the file content using the unsanitized username via sprintf('%s:{SHA}%s', $user, ...), and update_auth_credentials() writes this content to the attacker-controlled path via file_put_contents(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to write arbitrary content (including PHP code) to arbitrary file paths on the server, effectively achieving Remote Code Execution.

CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Primary and upstream sources