vBulletin 5.x through 5.5.4 allows remote command execution via the widgetConfig[code] parameter in an ajax/render/widget_php routestring request.
CVE-2019-16759
Score elevated to 9.8 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.
- Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 9.8
- EG Score
- 9.8(high)
- EG Risk
- 99(Act)EG Risk 99/100SSVC: Act
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity98% × 45%Exploitation100% × 40%Automatability100% × 15%Action: Fix now — active exploitation, automatable, high impact. - EPSS
- 100.0%
- KEV
- ⚠ Exploited
Published
September 24, 2019
Last Modified
November 7, 2025
Advisory Details (8)
Auto-updated Jun 1, 2026This vBulletin vBug is vBad: Zero-day exploit lets miscreants hijack vulnerable web forums
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/24/vbulletin_vbug_zeroday/Full Disclosure: vBulletin 5.x 0day pre-auth RCE exploit
https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/31High-severity vulnerability in vBulletin is being actively exploited - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/09/public-exploit-code-spawns-mass-attacks-against-high-severity-vbulletin-bug/Full Disclosure: Remote Code Execution 0day in vBulletin 5.x
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Aug/5Packet Storm
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158866/vBulletin-5.x-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlPacket Storm
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/158830/vBulletin-5.x-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlWeakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 35× in last 7d / 185× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 360 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-07-25 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 20:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-22 19:40 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-22 16:26 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-21 18:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-21 18:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 14:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-21 14:37 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-21 10:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-17 07:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-17 07:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-17 03:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 23:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 19:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 17:04 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-16 15:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-16 11:29 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-16 03:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-15 19:37 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 16:49 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-15 15:39 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 15:04 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-15 11:42 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 07:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 03:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 23:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 19:49 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 18:05 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-14 15:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 11:52 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 07:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 03:55 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 23:57 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 19:59 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 17:07 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-13 16:01 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 12:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 08:04 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-11 04:23 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 00:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 20:27 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 17:52 UTCCISA KEV update
- 2026-07-10 16:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 12:30 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 08:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 04:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
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- 2026-07-09 12:33 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-09 08:35 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-09 04:36 UTCGHSA enrichment
Publicly available exploits
(10 references)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module) (7 GitHub PoCs) (2 Exploit-DB entries). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- GitHub PoC0xdims/CVE-2019-16759First seen Aug 16, 2020
This tools will extracts and dumps Email + SMTP from vBulletin database server
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCandripwn/pwn-vbulletinFirst seen Dec 29, 2019
Identify vulnerable (RCE) vBulletin 5.0.0 - 5.5.4 instances using Shodan (CVE-2019-16759)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCFarjaalAhmad/CVE-2019-16759First seen Oct 12, 2019
Interactive-Like Command-Line Console for CVE-2019-16759
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCtheLSA/vbulletin5-rceFirst seen Oct 2, 2019
CVE-2019-16759 vbulletin 5.0.0 till 5.5.4 pre-auth rce
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-47437First seen Sep 30, 2019
vBulletin 5.x - Remote Command Execution (Metasploit)
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCr00tpgp/http-vuln-CVE-2019-16759First seen Sep 26, 2019
Nmap NSE Script to Detect vBulletin pre-auth 5.x RCE CVE-2019-16759
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCjas502n/CVE-2019-16759First seen Sep 26, 2019
vBulletin 5.x 未授权远程代码执行漏洞
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCM0sterHxck/CVE-2019-16759-Vbulletin-rce-exploitFirst seen Sep 25, 2019
Vbulletin rce exploit CVE-2019-16759
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-47447First seen Sep 23, 2019
vBulletin 5.0 < 5.5.4 - 'widget_php ' Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution
Open source ↗ - Metasploitexploit/multi/http/vbulletin_widgetconfig_rce✓ verifiedFirst seen Sep 23, 2019
vBulletin widgetConfig RCE
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Frequently asked(6)
What is CVE-2019-16759?
When was CVE-2019-16759 disclosed?
Is CVE-2019-16759 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-16759?
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How do I remediate CVE-2019-16759?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2019-16759
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2019-16759?
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