Kirki deserializes visitor-controlled data when an administrator reviews it
Kirki before 6.0.13 lets an unauthenticated visitor store serialized data and later deserializes that data without restricting which PHP classes may be instantiated when an administrator reviews the stored record. This creates a PHP object-injection primitive. If another installed plugin, theme or outdated WordPress component supplies a suitable gadget chain, the attacker can use object side effects for impacts such as file deletion, file read or remote code execution; without such a gadget chain, those impacts are not established. The published.
- Component
- Kirki
- Plugin slug
kirki- Affected
- < 6.0.13
- Safe version
6.0.13- Published
- Jul 31, 2026
This CVE was published Jul 31, 2026 and is one of 42 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update Kirki to 6.0.13 or later. Before administrators review untrusted stored submissions, remove suspicious serialized values where practical and update WordPress, themes and other plugins to reduce available gadget chains. If exploitation is suspected, inspect files and logs for object-injection side effects and rotate credentials or secrets that may have been exposed.
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.
Technical description
The Kirki WordPress plugin before 6.0.13 does not restrict which classes may be instantiated when it deserialises data that unauthenticated users can store, leading to PHP Object Injection that is triggered when an administrator later reviews the stored data. With a suitable gadget chain present on the site (via another installed Kirki WordPress plugin before 6.0.13, , or an outdated WordPress version), this could be leveraged to perform a variety of attacks, such as remote code execution.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H