Critical security advisoryCriticalFlagged by our vulnerability database: PHP2Shell is on CISA’s exploited list. Most WordPress hosting runs PHP. See if your site is affectedFlagged by our vulnerability database: PHP2Shell is being exploited. DetailsExploited: PHP2Shell. Check your site
HuttenlocherTechnologies
MediumCVSS 5.5Other software

CVE-2017-1000249

An issue in file() was introduced in commit 9611f31313a93aa036389c5f3b15eea53510d4d1 (Oct 2016) lets an attacker overwrite a fixed 20 bytes stack buffer with a

An issue in file() was introduced in commit 9611f31313a93aa036389c5f3b15eea53510d4d1 (Oct 2016) lets an attacker overwrite a fixed 20 bytes stack buffer with a specially crafted .notes section in an ELF binary. This was fixed in commit 35c94dc6acc418f1ad7f6241a6680e5327495793 (Aug 2017).

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by MITRE

What to do: Apply the vendor’s update. The NVD record links to the advisory.

What it means for a small business

If your business uses File, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.40%, higher than 34% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

  • Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
  • Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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