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Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2026-22451

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-05
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 No privileges Zero-click

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
Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in AncoraThemes Handyman handyman-services allows Object Injection.This issue affects Handyman: from n/a through <= 1.4.7.

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

A deserialization of untrusted data vulnerability in AncoraThemes Handyman plugin (versions up to 1.4.7) allows remote attackers to inject PHP objects via unsafe unserialize() calls, potentially leading to remote code execution through PHP Object Injection if gadget chains exist in the application or loaded libraries.

MitigationUpgrade to the patched version of Handyman plugin immediately. If no patch exists, audit code for unsafe unserialize() calls and replace with safer alternatives like json_decode(), while implementing strict allowlist-based input validation.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify if Handyman theme is installed
    Check your CMS or web application for the presence of the Handyman theme by inspecting the theme directory (commonly in wp-content/themes/ for WordPress, or the themes folder for other CMS platforms). Look for a folder named 'handyman' or similar.
    Affected if The Handyman theme folder exists in your application's theme directory.
  2. Determine the installed Handyman theme version
    Locate the style.css file or theme.json file within the Handyman theme folder and read the version declaration in the header comments or version field.
    Affected if The version number found cannot be compared to a patched version because no specific vulnerable version range was provided; compare to any available patched release.
  3. Find PHP files using unserialize() in the theme
    Search the Handyman theme folder for PHP files containing the pattern 'unserialize(' using grep or a file search tool: grep -r "unserialize(" path/to/handyman/theme/
    Affected if Any PHP file in the theme calls unserialize() on user-controlled input without prior validation.
  4. Check for deserialization sinks receiving external input
    Review the files identified in the previous step and trace whether the data passed to unserialize() originates from $_GET, $_POST, $_REQUEST, or HTTP headers/cookies.
    Affected if Serialized PHP data from HTTP request parameters or headers is being deserialized without sanitization.
  5. Identify exposed endpoints or parameters accepting serialized data
    Review your web server logs and application routing to identify any parameters (such as 'data', 'obj', 'payload', ' serialized', 'param') that accept base64-encoded or raw serialized strings and are processed by the Handyman theme.
    Affected if The application has publicly accessible endpoints within the Handyman theme that accept and deserialize serialized PHP objects from requests.

You are affected if the Handyman theme is installed, uses unserialize() on untrusted input from HTTP requests, and lacks available patches for this PHP Object Injection vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to the patched version of Handyman plugin immediately. If no patch exists, audit code for unsafe unserialize() calls and replace with safer alternatives like json_decode(), while implementing strict allowlist-based input validation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2026-22451 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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