dbcve.org
VulnerabilityAwaiting classification

CVE-2026-11563

CRITICAL · 9.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click 6 weeks old

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 · unedited
The Word Count and Social Shares WordPress plugin through 1.0 does not validate a user-supplied file path before deletion, nor does it have proper authorization or CSRF checks, allowing any authenticated user, such as a Subscriber, to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can lead to a full site takeover (e.g. by deleting wp-config.php).

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 confidence

The Word Count and Social Shares WordPress plugin through version 1.0 suffers from an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) vulnerability allowing unauthenticated file deletion. The plugin accepts a user-supplied file path without validation, lacks proper capability checks (even Subscriber-level users can trigger the action), and has no CSRF token protection. An attacker can exploit this to delete critical files like wp-config.php, leading to full site compromise through reinstallation or code execution.

MitigationUpdate to a patched version of the plugin when available; until then, disable the plugin or restrict file permissions to prevent the web server process from deleting wp-config.php and other critical files. Consider WAF rules to block suspicious delete requests.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS 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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Word Count and Social Shares plugin is installed
    Access WordPress admin dashboard under Plugins > Installed Plugins, or inspect the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'word-count-and-social-shares' or similar
    Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Determine the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, view the plugin details to see the version number, or check the main plugin PHP file for the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block
    Affected if The version is 1.0 or any version below the patched release
  3. Verify the plugin handles delete operations without authentication
    Review the plugin source code (likely in the main PHP file) for functions handling file deletion (such as unlink, delete, or wp_delete_file) and check if they are hooked to an AJAX action accessible to unauthenticated users or low-privilege users like subscribers
    Affected if The plugin contains delete functionality accessible without proper capability checks or authentication
  4. Inspect if the plugin accepts user-supplied file paths
    Search the plugin code for parameters that accept file paths (such as $_POST, $_GET, or $_REQUEST variables) used in file operations without sanitization via functions like sanitize_file_name, realpath, or file_exists validation
    Affected if The plugin accepts file paths from user input without validation before using them in file operations
  5. Check file permissions on critical WordPress files
    Inspect file permissions on wp-config.php, .htaccess, and other critical configuration files in the WordPress root directory using ls -la or file manager; verify the web server user cannot write or delete these files
    Affected if The web server process has write or delete permissions on wp-config.php, making deletion possible

You are affected if the Word Count and Social Shares plugin version 1.0 or below is installed and the vulnerable delete functionality is accessible without proper authentication or capability validation.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to a patched version of the plugin when available; until then, disable the plugin or restrict file permissions to prevent the web server process from deleting wp-config.php and other critical files. Consider WAF rules to block suspicious delete requests.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence
  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard with an administrator account
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate the 'Word Count and Social Shares' plugin
  4. Deactivate the plugin, then click Delete to remove it from the site
  5. Alternatively, run the following WP‑CLI commands: wp plugin deactivate word-count-and-social-shares && wp plugin delete word-count-and-social-shares

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,936.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-11563 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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