Contact Form 7 <= 5.3.1 — Arbitrary File Upload via Bypass
CVE-2020-35489Published · Updated Action summary
Affected: <5.3.2Update to 5.3.2 or newer
All remediation steps- Severity
- High8.1
- CVSS
- 8.1CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:HAttack complexity- High
PR:NPrivileges required- None
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:UScope- Unchanged
C:HConfidentiality- High
I:HIntegrity- High
A:HAvailability- High
- Weakness
- CWE-434 Arbitrary File Upload
- Required access
- No account needed
- Exploit prediction (EPSS)
- No score
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
On this page8
Am I affected?
Contact Form 7 contact-form-7
- Affected< 5.3.2
- Patched in5.3.2
Update to 5.3.2 or newer.
You are affected if you run < 5.3.2. Version 5.3.2 and later are not affected by this issue.
- Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Contact Form 7.
- No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.
- No account is needed to exploit this. Treat any exposed site on an affected version as at risk.
What to do
- Update to version 5.3.2, or a newer patched version
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
- Watch Contact Form 7 to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.
Advisory
Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Jinson Varghese Behanan.
The Contact Form 7 plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads in versions up to 5.3.2. This is due to the fact that the plugin allows filenames to contain special characters which may make extension filter evasion possible on certain configurations. Our team was not able to reproduce this issue which leads us to believe there is a high attack complexity or special configuration requirement.
Exploits & references
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Related CVEs
More in Contact Form 7
All 10| Severity | Vulnerability | CVE | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical9.8 | 6.2.3 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload 6.2 – 6.2.3Update to 6.2.4 | CVE-2026-114432 | |
| Critical9.8 | 6.2.3 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload 6.2 – 6.2.3Update to 6.2.4 | — | |
| Medium5.3 | Order Replay Vulnerability ≤6.0.5Update to 6.0.6 | CVE-2025-3247 | |
| Medium6.1 | Unauthenticated Open Redirect ≤5.9.4Update to 5.9.5 | CVE-2024-4704 | |
| Medium6.1 | Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ≤5.9Update to 5.9.2 | CVE-2024-2242 |
- Critical9.86.2.3 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload
6.2 – 6.2.3Update to 6.2.4
- Critical9.86.2.3 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload
6.2 – 6.2.3Update to 6.2.4
- Medium5.3Order Replay Vulnerability
≤6.0.5Update to 6.0.6
- Medium6.1Unauthenticated Open Redirect
≤5.9.4Update to 5.9.5
- Medium6.1Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
≤5.9Update to 5.9.2
Same weakness (Arbitrary File Upload)
All Arbitrary File Upload| Severity | Vulnerability | CVE | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| High7.2 | Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment User-Agent Header | CVE-2026-120688 | |
| Critical9.8 | Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via File Upload via Public Form Submission | CVE-2026-125055 | |
| Critical9.8 | Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution via 'form' Parameter | CVE-2026-119077 | |
| Medium5.3 | Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Exposure in 'search' Parameter | CVE-2026-121518 |
- High7.2Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment User-Agent Header
EZ SQL Reports Shortcode Widget and DB Backup
≤5.25.25Update to 5.26.45
- Critical9.8Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via File Upload via Public Form Submission
Chatterbug Forms – Fast, Flexible WordPress Form Builder
≤1.0.2Update to 1.1
- Critical9.8Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution via 'form' Parameter
ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System
≤3.3.9Update to 3.4.0
- Medium5.3Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Exposure in 'search' Parameter
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce
≤5.127.0Update to 5.128.0
Timeline
CVE published
Severity high, CVSS 8.1
Record last updated
Sources & licenses
Wordfence record- Vulnerability data
- Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
- CVE® identifiers
- Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
- CVSS / CWE
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- VulnCrest content
- Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.