CVE-2023-5505

BackWPup <= 4.0.1 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Directory Traversal

2024-08-16 00:00
Marco Wotschka

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.0.2
Affected Plugin
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
Affected Version
<= 4.0.1
CVSS
6.8Medium
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE-2023-5505
View all BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-5505 is a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the BackWPup WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.0.1. It carries a CVSS score of 6.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.0.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2024, reported by Marco Wotschka.

Vulnerability Overview

The BackWPup plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in versions up to, and including, 4.0.1 via the job-specific backup folder. This allows authenticated attackers to store backups in arbitrary folders on the server provided they can be written to by the server. Additionally, default settings will place an index.php and a .htaccess file into the chosen directory (unless already present) when the first backup job is run that are intended to prevent directory listing and file access. This means that an attacker could set the backup directory to the root of another site in a shared environment and thus disable that site.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on availability.

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

Reaching this weakness in BackWPup <= 4.0.1 takes an account at Administrator 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 BackWPup the fix is 4.0.2: builds <= 4.0.1 are affected, anything from 4.0.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.0.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Administrator 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: BackWPup 4.0.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5505https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/98085a23-0cb6-442a-a28a-cb5c2890b60dhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5505

Related records

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