CVE-2016-15043

CriticalPublic PoC

Published: 19 July 2025

Published

19 July 2025

Modified

16 December 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score v3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.8589 99.4th percentile

Risk Priority 71 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2016-15043 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type (CWE-434) vulnerability in Wp Mobile Detector Project Wp Mobile Detector. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2016-15043 is an arbitrary file upload vulnerability in the WP Mobile Detector plugin for WordPress, affecting versions up to and including 3.5. The flaw stems from missing file type validation in the resize.php file, allowing attackers to upload arbitrary files to the affected site's server. This critical issue carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is classified under CWE-434 (Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no privileges or user interaction required. Successful exploitation enables uploading malicious files, which may lead to remote code execution on the server.

Advisories from WPScan, Sucuri, Plugin Vulnerabilities, and a proof-of-concept by Aaditya Purani document the issue, while the plugin's changelog on WordPress.org indicates available updates for mitigation.

The vulnerability was reported as being exploited in the wild in 2016, per Sucuri's analysis.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-10788

Vulnerability details

The WP Mobile Detector plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to missing file type validation in resize.php file in versions up to, and including, 3.5. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files…

on the affected sites server which may make remote code execution possible.

CWE(s): CWE-434

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence

Adversaries may backdoor web servers with web shells to establish persistent access to systems.

attack.mitre.org →

T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer Command And Control

Adversaries may transfer tools or other files from an external system into a compromised environment.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Arbitrary file upload in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables remote exploitation (T1190) for uploading and executing web shells (T1505.003) via tool transfer (T1105).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1