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Vulnerability · Published Apr 20, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence

CVE-2026-5478Everest Forms <= 3.4.4 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Read and Deletion via Upload Field 'old_files' Parameter

High 8.1

In plain English

A high-severity path traversal in Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder from wpeverest. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 1.0% (higher than 64% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.1High
Exploit odds (30 days)1.0%top 36.4% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

The Everest Forms plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Read and Deletion in all versions up to, and including, 3.4.4. This is due to the plugin trusting attacker-controlled old_files data from public form submissions as legitimate server-side upload state, and converting attacker-supplied URLs into local filesystem paths using regex-based string replacement without canonicalization or directory boundary enforcement. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary local files (e.g., wp-config.php) by injecting path-traversal payloads into the old_files upload field parameter, which are then attached to notification emails. The same path resolution is also used in the post-email cleanup routine, which calls unlink() on the resolved path, resulting in the targeted file being deleted after being attached. This can lead to full site compromise through disclosure of database credentials and authentication salts from wp-config.php, and denial of service through deletion of critical files. Prerequisite: The form must contain a file-upload or image-upload field, and disable storing entry information.

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
wpeverest Everest Forms – Contact Form, Payment Form, Quiz, Survey & Custom Form Builder 0 – through 3.4.4

Weakness: CWE-22 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References