CVE-2026-12242
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 AdRotate Banner Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Code Injection in all versions up to, and including, 5.17.7 via the 'banner' attribute of the adrotate shortcode. This is due to insufficient input validation and sanitization of the banner shortcode attribute before concatenation into a PHP code string wrapped in W3 Total Cache mfunc or Borlabs Cache fragment markers. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to execute arbitrary PHP code on the server. This vulnerability requires W3 Total Cache or Borlabs Cache support to be enabled in AdRotate settings.
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 AdRotate Banner Manager plugin for WordPress up to version 5.17.7 fails to properly validate and sanitize the 'banner' attribute in its shortcode before concatenating it into PHP code fragments used by W3 Total Cache or Borlabs Cache. Authenticated users with Contributor-level access can inject arbitrary PHP code through this attribute, which gets executed server-side when the cache fragments are rendered.
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
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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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Confirm AdRotate Banner Manager is installedIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'AdRotate Banner Manager' or check the plugin files in /wp-content/plugins/adrotate/ for the main PHP fileAffected if The plugin is not installed
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Identify the installed version of AdRotateIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins > AdRotate Banner Manager and read the version number displayed below the plugin name, or inspect the main plugin file header in /wp-content/plugins/adrotate/Affected if The version number is 5.17.7 or lower (any version up to and including 5.17.7)
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Check if W3 Total Cache support is enabled in AdRotateIn WordPress admin, go to AdRotate > Settings > General Settings and look for the 'W3 Total Cache' or 'Cache Support' section to see if it is enabledAffected if W3 Total Cache support is enabled in AdRotate settings (this is required for the vulnerability to be exploitable)
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Check if Borlabs Cache support is enabled in AdRotateIn WordPress admin, go to AdRotate > Settings > General Settings and look for the 'Borlabs Cache' section to see if it is enabledAffected if Borlabs Cache support is enabled in AdRotate settings (this is required for the vulnerability to be exploitable)
Your environment is affected if AdRotate Banner Manager version 5.17.7 or lower is installed AND either W3 Total Cache or Borlabs Cache support is enabled in the AdRotate settings.
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 · scopedUpdate AdRotate Banner Manager to the latest version and ensure that W3 Total Cache or Borlabs Cache support is disabled in AdRotate settings if the plugin cannot be updated immediately. Review user permissions for shortcode usage.
5.17.8 or later
- 1. Update AdRotate Banner Manager plugin to version 5.17.8 or later through WordPress admin dashboard (Plugins > Add New > Upload or update directly via Plugins list)
- 2. After updating, verify W3 Total Cache or Borlabs Cache support settings in AdRotate (AdRotate > Settings > General) and ensure they are properly configured
- 3. Confirm the update was successful by checking the plugin version number
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12242 — 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 sources- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org
- www.wordfence.com
- nvd.nist.gov
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-12242 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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- 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