CVE-2026-12256
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 · uneditedContributor PHP Object Injection in Avada <= 3.15.3 versions.
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 confidenceThis is a PHP Object Injection vulnerability in the Avada WordPress theme (versions 3.15.3 and below). The flaw allows users with at least Contributor-level WordPress privileges to inject malicious PHP objects via unsafe unserialize() calls, potentially leading to Remote Code Execution if exploitable 'gadget chains' exist in the application or loaded plugins.
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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Identify Avada theme versionIn WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Themes and check the Avada theme version. Alternatively, access the theme's style.css file at wp-content/themes/avada/style.css and locate the 'Version' header.Affected if The installed version is 3.15.3 or any version below 3.15.3 (for example, 3.15.2, 3.15.1, 3.14, etc.)
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Confirm Contributor-level or higher user accounts existIn WordPress admin, navigate to Users > All Users and review the Role column. Check for accounts assigned Contributor, Author, Editor, or Administrator roles.Affected if Any user account with Contributor-level privileges or higher exists on the WordPress site (this is typical for most functional WordPress installations).
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Review server logs for unserialize activityExamine web server error logs (typically found in /var/log/apache2/error.log, /var/log/nginx/error.log, or your hosting control panel logs) for entries containing 'unserialize' or PHP warnings related to object instantiation.Affected if Error logs contain unserialize() related warnings, errors, or suspicious object injection indicators.
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Inspect HTTP requests for serialized dataIf you have access to HTTP traffic logs or a Web Application Firewall, review incoming POST requests to the site for serialized PHP objects (O: followed by object names, or C: followed by class names) being submitted.Affected if Malicious serialized PHP objects are being submitted to the site, particularly via parameters that may feed into unserialize() calls.
You are affected if the Avada theme version is 3.15.3 or below AND your WordPress site has at least one user with Contributor-level access (which is common), since the vulnerability allows such users to inject PHP objects.
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.
From vendor dataUpdate Avada theme to the latest version (above 3.15.3) which should contain the patch for the insecure deserialization. Until patched, limit or audit Contributor-level user accounts and monitor for suspicious activity.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12256 — 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-2026-12256 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
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