Events Manager <= 7.3.7.4 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Local File Inclusion via 'dbem_data[updates]' Array Keys

The Events Manager – Calendar, Bookings, Tickets, and more! plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 7.3.7.4 via the em_options_save function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to include and execute arbitrary .php files on the server, allowing the execution of any PHP code in those files. This can be used to bypass access controls, obtain sensitive data, or achieve code execution in cases where .php file types can be uploaded and included. The stored traversal key is subsequently executed via an include_once() call that fires on every admin_init invocation — including unauthenticated admin-ajax.php requests — meaning once the malicious key is stored by an administrator, the inclusion is triggered without any further authentication or capability check.

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. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Events Manager 7.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

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