CVE-2026-28056
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 · uneditedImproper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in ThemeREX MCKinney's Politics mckinney-politics allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects MCKinney's Politics: from n/a through <= 1.2.8.
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 · moderate confidenceThis is a file inclusion vulnerability in the ThemeREX MCKinney's Politics WordPress theme (version <= 1.2.8) where improper control of filename parameters in PHP include/require statements allows attackers to include arbitrary local or potentially remote PHP files, leading to remote code execution.
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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the MCKinney's Politics theme directoryCheck the wp-content/themes/ directory for a folder named 'politics' or 'mckinney-politics' or similar naming patterns associated with the ThemeREX MCKinney's Politics themeAffected if The theme directory exists in the WordPress installation's theme folder
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Identify the theme version from style.cssOpen the theme's style.css file and look for the 'Version:' declaration in the file header commentsAffected if The declared version number is 1.2.8 or lower (the vulnerability affects versions up to and including 1.2.8)
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Inspect PHP files for vulnerable include/require patternsSearch theme PHP files for include(), require(), include_once(), or require_once() statements where variables are used in the file path without proper sanitization (e.g., include($file), require($_GET['page']))Affected if Unsanitized file inclusion functions using variable or user-controlled input are found in the theme's PHP code
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Test for LFI/RFI via HTTP parametersIf identifiable, attempt a controlled test request to suspected endpoints with a benign path traversal pattern (e.g., ?file=../../index) to see if the application reflects file contentsAffected if The application returns file contents from arbitrary paths or the parameter is not properly validated
The environment is affected if the MCKinney's Politics theme version is 1.2.8 or lower and the theme contains vulnerable file inclusion code accessible via web requests
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 to the latest patched version of MCKinney's Politics theme; if unavailable, implement web application firewall rules to block directory traversal patterns and validate/sanitize all file inclusion parameters, or disable the theme until a patch is released.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-28056 — 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-2026-28056 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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