Contact Form 7WordPress extension · Rocklobster
CVE-2020-35489
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe contact-form-7 (aka Contact Form 7) plugin before 5.3.2 for WordPress allows Unrestricted File Upload and remote code execution because a filename may contain special characters.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Contact Form 7 plugin before version 5.3.2 for WordPress contains an unrestricted file upload vulnerability. The plugin fails to properly sanitize filenames containing special characters during file upload operations, allowing attackers to upload malicious files (such as PHP shells) and execute arbitrary code remotely, leading to complete site compromise.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Contact Form 7WordPress extension
< 5.3.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Contact Form 7 is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate Contact Form 7, or inspect the file /wp-content/plugins/contact-form-7/readme.txt to find the version in the plugin headerAffected if Contact Form 7 is present but version is below 5.3.2 or version cannot be determined
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Confirm installed version against affected rangeRead the version number from the plugin header in readme.txt or from the Plugins page in WordPress admin. Compare it to the affected version range: any version below 5.3.2 is vulnerableAffected if Installed version is less than 5.3.2 (for example: 5.3.1, 5.3.0, 5.2.2, etc.)
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Determine if file upload feature is in useCheck WordPress media library at /wp-admin/upload.php for files in the wpcf7_uploads folder, or inspect the Contact Form 7 configuration to see if any forms have file attachment fields enabledAffected if Any contact form is configured with a file upload field and has received uploaded files
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Inspect upload directory for suspicious filesNavigate to wp-content/uploads/wpcf7_uploads/ (or the current year/month subfolder within) using FTP or file manager. Look for files with unusual extensions (.php, .phtml, .exe) or filenames containing special characters (such as: .., ;, %, $, #, @, !)Affected if Any .php or .phtml files exist in upload directories, or filenames contain encoded or special characters that may bypass sanitization
You are affected if Contact Form 7 version is below 5.3.2 AND the plugin file upload feature is enabled or has been used, as exploitation requires both conditions to be present.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped5.3.2
Immediately update Contact Form 7 to version 5.3.2 or later. Additionally, audit the site for existing backdoors or compromised files, as active exploitation may have occurred prior to patching.
Contact Form 7 version 5.3.2 or later
- Back up your WordPress site before making any changes
- Log in to WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Find Contact Form 7 in the plugin list
- If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to update to version 5.3.2 or later
- Alternatively, update via WP-CLI: wp plugin update contact-form7
- Verify the plugin version is 5.3.2 or higher after updating
- Test file upload functionality in your contact forms to ensure proper validation is working
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Contact Form 7
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,304.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-35489 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-35489 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data