CVE-2025-4206

WordPress CRM, Email & Marketing Automation for WordPress | Award Winner — Groundhogg <= 4.1.1.2 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Arbitrary File Deletion

2025-05-08 00:00
Phat Do

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.1.2
Affected Plugin
Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation
Affected Version
<= 4.1.1.2
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE-2025-4206
View all Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-4206 is a high-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Groundhogg WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.1.1.2. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.1.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2025, reported by Phat Do.

Vulnerability Overview

The WordPress CRM, Email & Marketing Automation for WordPress | Award Winner — Groundhogg plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the 'process_export_delete' and 'process_import_delete' functions in all versions up to, and including, 4.1.1.2. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, 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).

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 confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

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

Groundhogg <= 4.1.1.2 carries this weakness at process_export_delete, and reaching it 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 Groundhogg the fix is 4.1.2: builds <= 4.1.1.2 are affected, anything from 4.1.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.1.2, 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: Groundhogg 4.1.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-4206https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/0256b4ad-6094-4062-bdf7-c3fc0410557bhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-4206

Related records

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