# CVE-2023-1478: Hummingbird < 3.4.2 - Unauthenticated Path Traversal

> Unauthenticated attackers can exploit a path traversal flaw in the Hummingbird WordPress plugin to write files to arbitrary locations.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 10 Apr 2023
- **Updated:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6686-jvr4-7m78

## What is CVE-2023-1478?

CVE-2023-1478 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in Unknown Hummingbird, published on 10 Apr 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Hummingbird WordPress plugin before 3.4.2 does not validate the generated file path for page cache files before writing them, leading to a path traversal vulnerability in the page cache module.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-1478?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Incsub Hummingbird.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-1478?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-1478 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-1478 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-1478 exists.

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown Hummingbird

- [CVE-2022-0994](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0994/): Hummingbird < 3.3.2 - Admin+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting (medium 4.8)
- [CVE-2024-43118](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-43118/): WordPress Hummingbird plugin <= 3.9.1 - Broken Access Control vulnerability (medium 4.3)
- [CVE-2024-32792](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-32792/): WordPress Hummingbird plugin <= 3.7.3 - Broken Access Control vulnerability (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-1478 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-1478 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in Unknown Hummingbird, published on 10 Apr 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-1478 exists.

Affected product: Unknown Hummingbird. 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-2023-1478/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1478/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-1478
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-1478
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-1478

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1478/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.