The WP Captcha PRO (the premium version of the Advanced Google reCAPTCHA plugin, both have the same slug) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in all versions up to, and including, 5.38. This is due to a capability check in the save_ajax() function of the licensing module, combined with unrestricted file extraction in sync_cloud_protection(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to upload arbitrary files including PHP webshells to the server by injecting a malicious cloud_protection_url into the license meta, which the plugin then downloads and extracts without file type validation into a web-accessible uploads directory. This can be used for remote code execution. Note: The vulnerability can only be exploited with a remote URL if "allow_url_fopen" is enabled in the php.ini config.
History

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The WP Captcha PRO (the premium version of the Advanced Google reCAPTCHA plugin, both have the same slug) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file upload in all versions up to, and including, 5.38. This is due to a capability check in the save_ajax() function of the licensing module, combined with unrestricted file extraction in sync_cloud_protection(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to upload arbitrary files including PHP webshells to the server by injecting a malicious cloud_protection_url into the license meta, which the plugin then downloads and extracts without file type validation into a web-accessible uploads directory. This can be used for remote code execution. Note: The vulnerability can only be exploited with a remote URL if "allow_url_fopen" is enabled in the php.ini config.
Title WP Captcha PRO <= 5.38 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary File Upload
Weaknesses CWE-434
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Wordfence

Published:

Updated: 2026-06-05T18:31:12.190Z

Reserved: 2026-04-02T07:07:02.783Z

Link: CVE-2026-5411

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-06-05T19:16:34.860

Modified: 2026-06-05T19:20:19.607

Link: CVE-2026-5411

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.