# CVE-2023-5991: Hotel Booking Lite < 4.8.5 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Download & Deletion

> Unauthenticated attackers can download and delete arbitrary files on the server due to missing path validation and authorization checks in the Hotel Booking Lite plugin.

- **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:** 26 Dec 2023
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5c4q-4rqx-7fcj

## What is CVE-2023-5991?

CVE-2023-5991 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in Unknown Hotel Booking Lite, published on 26 Dec 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Hotel Booking Lite WordPress plugin before 4.8.5 does not validate file paths provided via user input, as well as does not have proper CSRF and authorisation checks, allowing unauthenticated users to download and delete arbitrary files on the server

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5991?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Motopress Hotel Booking Lite.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5991?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-5991 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-5991 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-5991 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Hotel Booking Lite < 4.8.5 - Arbitrary File Download & Deletion (nuclei): http/cves/2023/CVE-2023-5991.yaml

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown Hotel Booking Lite

- [CVE-2023-28498](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-28498/): WordPress Hotel Booking Lite Plugin <= 4.6.0 is vulnerable to Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) (medium 4.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-5991 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5991 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in Unknown Hotel Booking Lite, published on 26 Dec 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-2023-5991 exists.

Affected product: Unknown Hotel Booking Lite. 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-2023-5991/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5991/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5991
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5991
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5991

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5991/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.