# CVE-2023-5241: Path traversal in WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services

> Authenticated subscribers can exploit a directory traversal flaw to append PHP tags to critical files, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** CVE-2023-5646, GHSA-v28w-vh2w-263g

## What is CVE-2023-5241?

CVE-2023-5241 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in quantumcloud WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services, published on 19 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The AI ChatBot for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in versions up to, and including, 4.8.9 as well as 4.9.2 via the qcld_openai_upload_pagetraining_file function. This allows subscriber-level attackers to append "<?php" to any existing file on the server resulting in potential DoS when appended to critical files such as wp-config.php.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5241?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Quantumcloud Wpbot.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5241?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5241 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5241 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5241 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in quantumcloud WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services

- [CVE-2023-5204](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5204/): AI ChatBot <= 4.8.9 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection via qc_wpbo_search_response (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-1650](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-1650/): ChatBot < 4.4.7 - Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-5212](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5212/): Path traversal in WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2024-22309](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22309/): WordPress ChatBot Plugin <= 5.1.0 is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2023-48741](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-48741/): WordPress ChatBot Plugin <= 4.7.8 is vulnerable to SQL Injection (high 7.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5241 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5241 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in quantumcloud WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services, published on 19 Oct 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5241 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: quantumcloud WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, AI Services. 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-2023-5241/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5241/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5241
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5241
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5241

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5241/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.