Contest Gallery - Security Vulnerability (CVE-2026-78088)

Q: Am I affected by this vulnerability?

You are affected if your site runs Contest Gallery. No account is needed to exploit this, so a public site is reachable by anyone.

Q: How do I fix it?

Update Contest Gallery to the latest available version. Where the vendor has not yet published a fix, remove or disable the plugin until they do. Until you can update, Request / payload inspection (WAF) in Hack Halt ProSecure contains this class of attack at the request layer.

Q: What can an attacker actually do?

This is a Remote Code Execution flaw. An attacker who exploits it can run their own code on the server, which is total control of the site.

CVE-2026-78088

Vulnerability CVE-2026-78088 PLUGIN contest-gallery HIGH

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Overwrite in all versions up to, and including, 32.0.1 due to insufficient file path validation in the 'baseUrlForFacebook' parameter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to overwrite known files which may lead to remote code execution when certain preconditions are met.

CVE-2026-78088

HIGH CVSS 8.8 Published 2026-09-16 Updated 2026-09-16

AI Risk Critical (92/100) Active Exploit: No strong signal Published Exploit: No public exploit references Priority: P1 Immediate

Severity Band HIGH

CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Components 2

Reference Links 2

AI Risk Engine Critical (92/100)

Exploitability Very High

Active Exploitation No strong signal

Published Exploit Status No public exploit references

Threat Timeline

2026-09-16 CVE published and first recorded in the threat feed.
2026-09-16 Record updated with latest vulnerability metadata.
2026-09-21 AI technical context refreshed for mitigation and impact guidance.
Now Monitoring for follow-up changes, linked references, and new related CVEs.

AI Context

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AI Updated just now

AI enriched just now (2026-09-21 20:06 UTC)

Technical Summary

Potential Impact

Severity is HIGH (CVSS 8.8). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.

Exploitability Assessment

Exploitability is assessed as Very High based on remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites.

Primary risk drivers: remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites

Mitigation Recommendations

Validate affected product versions, prioritize patching, and monitor references for vendor remediation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, apply compensating controls and limit exposure of vulnerable surfaces.

Detection & Monitoring

Track authentication anomalies, unexpected file writes, and suspicious plugin API activity around affected components.

Business Impact Lens

AI risk score 92/100 (Critical, Very High) with priority P1 Immediate. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.

Affected Products

Contest Gallery PLUGIN · contest-gallery Affected: >= 0, <= 32.0.1 Fixed version not specified

Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe PLUGIN · contest-gallery-upload-vote-photos-media-sell-with-paypal-stripe Affected: >= 0, <= 32.0.1 Fixed version not specified

References

What to do about this

Patch immediately Serious, and reachable without meaningful privilege.

Fix it

Update Contest Gallery to the latest available version.

Where the vendor has not published a fix yet, disable the plugin until they do.

Cannot update today? Request / payload inspection (WAF) in Hack Halt ProSecure blocks this class of attack before WordPress processes the request.

Inspect request parameters and bodies for injection, traversal and file-inclusion payloads, and refuse the request rather than logging it.

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Not sure if you are affected?

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Am I affected by this vulnerability?