CVE-2026-12242

What is known

The 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.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-12242, a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) affecting the affected product, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether the affected product is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
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