CVE-2026-16585 Path traversal in Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots
Administrators can delete arbitrary files via path traversal, potentially leading to remote code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-16585?
CVE-2026-16585 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in wordplus Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots, published on 28 Jul 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the delete_sticker function in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.19. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can easily lead to remote code execution when the right file is deleted (such as wp-config.php). The prefix check intended to restrict deletion to the uploads directory can be bypassed by crafting a URL that begins with the legitimate uploads base URL but embeds ../ traversal sequences in the path portion, as the normalize_sticker function only applies esc_url_raw(), which does not strip ../ sequences, allowing the traversal payload to be stored verbatim in WordPress options.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-16585?
How do I fix CVE-2026-16585?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-16585 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-16585 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-16585 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-6fr4-j24c-qcq7.