# CVE-2024-4194: Album and Image Gallery plus Lightbox <= 2.0 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Shortcode Execution

> Unauthenticated attackers can execute arbitrary shortcodes in the Album and Image Gallery plus Lightbox WordPress plugin due to improper validation.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Jun 2024
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-jvx5-mmf7-496q

## What is CVE-2024-4194?

CVE-2024-4194 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in essentialplugin Album and Image Gallery Plus Lightbox, published on 6 Jun 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The The Album and Image Gallery plus Lightbox plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.0. This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes.

Weakness: CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-4194?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Essentialplugin Album and Image Gallery Plus Lightbox.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-4194?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-4194 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-4194 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-4194 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-4194 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-4194 is a medium-severity code injection vulnerability in essentialplugin Album and Image Gallery Plus Lightbox, published on 6 Jun 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-4194 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: essentialplugin Album and Image Gallery Plus Lightbox. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4194/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4194/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-4194
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-4194
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-4194

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4194/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.