CVE-2026-18051CWE-22path-traversal

CVE-2026-18051

Critical · published August 19, 2026

CVSS v3.1
10.0
EPSS
1%
Percentile
46.6
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

The W3 Total Cache WordPress plugin before 2.10.5 does not properly validate the request path it uses to build cache file names, allowing unauthenticated attackers to write a file into any existing directory on the server, inside or outside the web root, overwriting whatever occupies the target name.

On Apache, the same flaw overwrites the site's .htaccess files, which breaks the site and can strip hardening rules that other security measures rely on.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
10.0 · CRITICAL
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00572 · 46.6th percentile
Weakness
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Published
2026-08-19T10:17Z
References (1)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 19 AUG 06:00Z
    W3 Total Cache < 2.10.5 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Directory File Write and .htaccess Overwrite via Path Traversal in the Page Cache Key
    cvelistv5