CVE-2021-36888

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—Elevated

9.8

Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update vulnerability leading to full website compromise discovered in Image Hover Effects Ultimate (versions <= 9.6.1) WordPress plugin.

CVSS v3: 9.8
EG Score: 9.8(medium)
EPSS: 98.6%
KEV: Not listed

Published

December 15, 2021

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

References (4)

audit@patchstackhttps://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/image-hover-effects-ultimate/wordpress-image-hover-effects-ultimate-plugin-9-6-1-unauthenticated-arbitrary-options-update-leading-to-full-website-compromise
audit@patchstackhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/image-hover-effects-ultimate/#developers
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/image-hover-effects-ultimate/wordpress-image-hover-effects-ultimate-plugin-9-6-1-unauthenticated-arbitrary-options-update-leading-to-full-website-compromise
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://wordpress.org/plugins/image-hover-effects-ultimate/#developers

Weakness Classification(3)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 16× in last 30d)

Every time one of our enrichment pipelines (NVD, MITRE cvelistV5, EPSS, CISA KEV, GHSA, OSV, vendor advisories) ran against this CVE. Most recent first.

2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-01 13:50 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-01 13:50 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:15 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:15 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-29 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-29 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:43 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:43 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 13:39 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 13:39 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 13:39 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 06:13 UTCEG score recompute
2026-05-26 06:13 UTCGHSA enrichment

Publicly available exploits

(1 reference)

Working exploit code is in the public domain. Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

Nucleihttp/cves/2021/CVE-2021-36888.yaml
First seen Jan 1, 2021
WordPress Image Hover Ultimate - Unauthenticated Settings Update
Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2021-36888?

CVE-2021-36888 is a critical vulnerability published on December 15, 2021. Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update vulnerability leading to full website compromise discovered in Image Hover Effects Ultimate (versions <= 9.6.1) WordPress plugin.

When was CVE-2021-36888 disclosed?

CVE-2021-36888 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on December 15, 2021, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.

Is CVE-2021-36888 actively exploited?

CVE-2021-36888 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 98.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-36888?

CVE-2021-36888 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).

How do I remediate CVE-2021-36888?

Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2021-36888, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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CVE-2021-36888

📅 Published

🔄 Last Modified

🔗 References (4)

Weakness Classification(3)

Data Freshness Timeline

Publicly available exploits

❓ Frequently asked(5)

Dependency Blast Radius

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2021-36888?

🔗 Related CVEs(same CWE)

Same CWE

Published

Last Modified

References (4)

Frequently asked(5)

Related CVEs(same CWE)