CVE-2026-16099

Description

The Podlove Podcast Publisher plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the create_link_item function in all versions up to, and including, 4.5.3. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can easily lead to remote code execution when the right file is deleted (such as wp-config.php). A viable POP chain exists within the plugin itself via Podlove\ImageCache\GenerationGuard, whose __destruct() method invokes wp_delete_file() with an attacker-controlled file path populated through unserialization.

References

• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.3/lib/image_cache/generation_guard.php#L19
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.3/lib/image_cache/generation_guard.php#L57
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.3/lib/model/base.php#L552
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.3/lib/modules/shownotes/rest_api.php#L538
• https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.3/lib/modules/shownotes/rest_api.php#L585