Administrator code execution via File Check PHAR path
Published Oct 16, 2024 · Updated Apr 8, 2026
PHAR deserialization in NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) before 4.3.4 allows remote authenticated users to execute code through a POP chain. The File Check snapdir validation passes an administrator-supplied phar:// path to file_exists and is_readable, which unserialize archive metadata on PHP before 8.0. Exploitation requires an administrator with manage_options and unfiltered_html, firewall whitelist access, an uploaded malicious PHAR, and an active plugin or theme with a vulnerable POP chain.
Summary
What happened
PHAR deserialization in NinjaFirewall (WP Edition) before 4.3.4 allows remote authenticated users to execute code through a POP chain. The File Check snapdir validation passes an administrator-supplied phar:// path to file_exists and is_readable, which unserialize archive metadata on PHP before 8.0. Exploitation requires an administrator with manage_options and unfiltered_html, firewall whitelist access, an uploaded malicious PHAR, and an active plugin or theme with a vulnerable POP chain.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-4451
- Published
- Oct 16, 2024
- Updated
- Apr 8, 2026
- Vendor
- The Ninja Technologies Network
- Product
- NinjaFirewall (WP Edition)
- Classifications
- CWE-502
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 16, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 8, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=0 <4.3.4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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