Health Check & Troubleshooting <= 1.2.3 - Path Traversal
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.2.4
- Affected Plugin
- Health Check & Troubleshooting
- Affected Version
<= 1.2.3- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Health Check & Troubleshooting WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.2.3. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 1.2.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2019, reported by Julien Legras.
Vulnerability Overview
The Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Path Traversal in versions up to, and including, 1.2.3 via the POST parameter 'file' where it is used unchecked with 'file_get_contents'. This allows authenticated attackers to read the contents of arbitrary files on the server, which can contain sensitive information.
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.
CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Health Check & Troubleshooting <= 1.2.3 carries this weakness at file, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 Health Check & Troubleshooting the fix is 1.2.4: builds <= 1.2.3 are affected, anything from 1.2.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.2.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Health Check & Troubleshooting: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Health Check & Troubleshooting 1.2.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Health Check & Troubleshooting
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