Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery: Dangerous file upload
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery is affected by dangerous file upload. Exploitation requires at least contributor-level access. Successful exploitation can place attacker-controlled executable content on the server and may lead to full site compromise.
- Component
- Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery
- Plugin slug
nextgen-gallery- Affected
- See vendor advisory
- Safe version
- See mitigation notes
- Published
- Dec 18, 2025
This CVE was published Dec 18, 2025 and is one of 31 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery to a release outside the affected range, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
No confirmed safe version is listed. Consider a vendor-supported patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality while you assess the risk.
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 Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 3.59.12 via the 'template' shortcode parameter. This is due to insufficient path validation that allows absolute paths to be provided. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to include and execute arbitrary PHP files on the server, bypassing web server restrictions like .htaccess. Successful exploitation could lead to information disclosure, code execution in the WordPress context, and potential remote code execution if combined with arbitrary file upload capabilities.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H