CVE-2025-39598

Administrator Z <= 2025.03.28 - Authenticated (Admin+) Directory Traversal

2025-04-16 00:00
Nguyen Xuan Chien

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2025.03.30
Affected Plugin
Administrator Z
Affected Version
<= 2025.03.28
CVSS
2.7Low
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE-2025-39598
View all Administrator Z vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-39598 is a low-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Administrator Z WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2025.03.28. It carries a CVSS score of 2.7 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Admin level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2025.03.30; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2025, reported by Nguyen Xuan Chien.

Vulnerability Overview

The Administrator Z plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in all versions up to, and including, 2025.03.28. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to perform actions on files outside of the originally intended directory.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Reaching this weakness in Administrator Z <= 2025.03.28 takes an account at Admin level or above. Path traversal happens when user-controlled text is used to build a filesystem path without being constrained to an intended directory, so sequences like ../ walk the resolved path somewhere else.

Depending on the operation, it means reading files outside the intended folder — wp-config.php being the usual target — or writing to and deleting paths the web server can touch. For Administrator Z the fix is 2025.03.30: builds <= 2025.03.28 are affected, anything from 2025.03.30 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2025.03.30, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Admin access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Administrator Z 2025.03.30 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-39598https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a1ee5b10-1694-4991-b3fb-4b3b365fbca6https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-39598

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C