CVE-2016-6896 Path traversal in n/a
Authenticated attackers can exploit a directory traversal flaw in WordPress to read arbitrary text files or cause denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2016-6896?
CVE-2016-6896 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in Wordpress Wordpress, published on 18 Jan 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Directory traversal vulnerability in the wp_ajax_update_plugin function in wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php in WordPress 4.5.3 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service or read certain text files via a .. (dot dot) in the plugin parameter to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, as demonstrated by /dev/random read operations that deplete the entropy pool.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6896?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Wordpress Wordpress.
How do I fix CVE-2016-6896?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2016-6896 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-6896 exists.
Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.
Other vulnerabilities in Wordpress Wordpress
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2016-6896, GHSA-7r4r-qf37-vqqq, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-6896.