# CVE-2016-20103: Cherry Plugin for WordPress < 1.2.7 Path Traversal via download-content.php


- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 28 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f9fh-3wgw-qrqr

## What is CVE-2016-20103?

CVE-2016-20103 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cherry Plugin, published on 20 Oct 2026. 

### Official description

Cherry Plugin for WordPress before 1.2.7 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to download arbitrary files via the 'file' parameter. Attackers can send GET requests to /admin/import-export/download-content.php with traversal sequences like ../../../../../wp-config.php to read database credentials, since the script passes input directly to readfile(). Exploitation evidence was first observed by the Shadowserver Foundation on 2023-10-19.

Weakness: CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-20103?


## How do I fix CVE-2016-20103?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-20103 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-20103 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-20103 exists.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-20103 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-20103 is a high-severity vulnerability in Cherry Plugin, published on 20 Oct 2026. 
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-20103 exists.

Affected product: Cherry Plugin. 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-2016-20103/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-20103/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-20103
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-20103
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-20103

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-20103/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.