CVE-2026-16955
MEDIUM 5 PoC AVAILABLEThe AI Engine WordPress plugin before 3.6.6 does not confine a caller-supplied file path before reading it and forwarding the contents to an external service, allowing users with a subscriber-level account to read arbitrary files from the server and exfiltrate them off-host. Reaching the issue at subscriber level requires a non-default public API feature to be enabled; otherwise the same issue is reachable by an administrator, which on multisite allows a non-super subsite administrator to read the network-shared configuration and its secrets.
Public exploit or PoC code exists. Modeled probability is still low, but the barrier to attack is reduced — watch closely.
Exploitation likelihood
0.2%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 14th percentile
Impact if exploited
5CVSS 3.1 · MEDIUM
- ConfidentialityLow
- IntegrityNone
- AvailabilityNone
What an attacker needs
- ✓Access: Reachable over the network — no local access needed
- ⚠Privileges: Requires a low-privilege account
- ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Proof of concept & exploit code
- reference https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/1b413d84-61c7-4e19-a693-312d74f618ff/
- github-search Search GitHub for public PoC repos
Test against your own equipment
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-16955/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-16955/poc.json
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
All CVSS metrics
- MEDIUM 5 v3.1 · ADP Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - MEDIUM 5 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N