CVE-2026-114630

ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System <= 3.3.8 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Deletion via 'ticket_attachment_path' Parameter

2026-11-05 22:16
Mohammed Dsleman

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.3.9
Affected Plugin
ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System
Affected Version
<= 3.3.8
CVSS
9.1Critical
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
CVE
CVE-2026-114630
View all ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-114630 is a critical-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory vulnerability in the ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.3.8. 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 3.3.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2026, reported by Mohammed Dsleman.

Vulnerability Overview

The ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the factory_reset function in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.8 This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers 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). This vulnerability is exploitable via a two-step chain: an unauthenticated attacker first stores an arbitrary ticket_attachment_path value by submitting a ticket through the nopriv eh_crm_new_ticket_post AJAX endpoint (whose nonce is publicly exposed via the [wsdesk_support] shortcode), then triggers the factory_reset routine via a GET request to wp-admin/admin.php?page=wsdesk_factory_reset, which is guarded only by is_admin() — a request-type check — rather than a capability check, causing unlink() to be called on the attacker-supplied path.

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

ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System <= 3.3.8 carries this weakness at is_admin(), 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 ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System the fix is 3.3.9: builds <= 3.3.8 are affected, anything from 3.3.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.3.9, 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: ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System 3.3.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-114630https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/2151249a-8e7a-4c7b-89ff-5058942368fbhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-114630

Related records

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