Demi <= 0.0.6 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Directory Deletion via demi_restore_step AJAX action
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 0.0.9
- Affected Plugin
- Demi – One Click Demo Import, Backup & Site Migration
- Affected Version
<= 0.0.7- CVSS
- 9.1Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2026-14490
At a glance
CVE-2026-14490 is a critical-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Demi WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.0.7. It carries a CVSS score of 9.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 0.0.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2026, reported by Spy0x7.
Vulnerability Overview
The Demi – One Click Demo Import, WP Backup & Site Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Directory Deletion in all versions up to, and including, 0.0.7. The vulnerability exists because the plugin stores its HMAC signing key and per-step restore token as dotfiles inside a publicly accessible subdirectory of the WordPress uploads folder — without any `.htaccess` or index file protection — and the `demi_restore_step` AJAX handler, registered for unauthenticated callers, explicitly accepts possession of the on-disk signing key as a standalone alternative to WordPress capability and nonce checks; an unauthenticated attacker who retrieves the exposed key can forge a valid signed state envelope to invoke `CleanDir::execute()` with a caller-supplied absolute path that is subject to no allow-list or path-canonicalization check. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to recursively delete arbitrary directories on the server.
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 privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on integrity, availability.
CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Demi <= 0.0.7 carries this weakness at execute(), and reaching it takes no account at all. 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 Demi the fix is 0.0.9: builds <= 0.0.7 are affected, anything from 0.0.9 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 0.0.9, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Demi 0.0.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Demi – One Click Demo Import, Backup & Site Migration
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C