Cache Enabler <= 1.8.16 — Unauthenticated Arbitrary File and Directory Deletion

Am I affected?

• Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Cache Enabler.
• 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

1. Update to version 1.8.17, or a newer patched version
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch Cache Enabler to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Jakub Herman.

The Cache Enabler plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Path Traversal in all versions up to, and including, 1.8.16. This is due to missing path confinement validation in the cache directory resolution logic, allowing URL-supplied path traversal sequences to resolve outside the plugin cache directory. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary files and directories on the server by supplying a crafted URL containing path traversal sequences to the cache-clearing routine. Another plugin or theme passes a request-derived URL to the cache_enabler_clear_page_cache_by_url hook.

Exploits & references

Proof-of-concept & detection

No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.

Advisories & patches

• Advisorywordfence.com

Timeline

1. Sep 29, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity critical, CVSS 9.1

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated