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CVE-2026-97163
Unauthenticated remote code installation in Joomla UP plugin (critical RCE).
Major vulnerability. Unauthenticated remote code installation in a widely deployed Joomla plugin enabling large-scale site compromise and backdoor deployment; high newsworthiness and operational impact.
- CVSS
- 10.0Criticalscored by the publisher (CNA)
- Exploited in the wild
- Not knownUnvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub; not in CISA KEV
- EPSS
- 0.47%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 60% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 12 Nov 2026
- Fix
- Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
- Published
- 26 Sept 2026analysed here 29 Sept 2026
Summary
Impact
Unauthenticated remote code installation allowing full site compromise, remote code execution, backdoors and data theft.
Triage
- Attack surface
- Server-side
- Exploitable
- At runtime
- Attack vector
- network
- Can a WAF block it?
- Yes. See why
The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.
Affected products
| Product | Affected versions | Vendor says fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| lomart.fr UP plugin for Joomla | 5.0.0-5.2.06.0.0-6.0.29Vendor says fixed in: not stated |
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.
Products named in our analysis
- Joomla UP plugin 5.0.0-5.2.0
- Joomla UP plugin 6.0.0-6.0.29
- Websites running affected UP plugin
Fix and mitigation
Action required
Immediate action required
WAF and other mitigations
Can a WAF block it? Yes. Path traversal sends `../` sequences in the request, which WAF rules catch, including the common encodings.
Also consider: canonical path validation
Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.
Remediation steps (AI-written)
Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.
Exploitation evidence
- CISA KEV catalog
- Not listed as of our last sync.
- Public exploit code
- Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 2 GitHub proofs of concept
- CISA SSVC
- exploitation none, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 26 Sept 2026 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.
GitHub proofs of concept
- murrez/CVE-2026-971631 stars
- kize7/cve-2026-97163-payload0 stars
Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.
Timeline
- 26 Sept 2026First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted)
- 26 Sept 2026Published1 day later
- 26 Sept 2026CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation nonesame day later
- 27 Sept 2026CVE record last updatedsame day later
- 29 Sept 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com2 days later
Common questions
Is CVE-2026-97163 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-97163 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.47% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-97163?
CVE-2026-97163 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 10.0. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-97163?
Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-97163, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.
What does CVE-2026-97163 affect?
CVE-2026-97163 affects Joomla UP plugin 5.0.0-5.2.0, Joomla UP plugin 6.0.0-6.0.29, Websites running affected UP plugin. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-97163?
Remove/disable UP plugin, apply vendor patch when released, audit for backdoors and restore from clean backups.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
References
1 reference in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.
Other links (1)
Where the data on this page comes from
- CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
- NVD: CVSS and CPE data
- CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
- FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
- PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept
Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.
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