Membership Simplified <= 1.58 - Arbitrary File Download
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Membership Simplified
- Affected Version
<= 1.58- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2017-1002008
At a glance
CVE-2017-1002008 is a critical-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Membership Simplified WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.58. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed March 2017, reported by Larry W. Cashdollar.
Vulnerability Overview
Vulnerability in wordpress plugin membership-simplified-for-oap-members-only v1.58, The file download code located membership-simplified-for-oap-members-only/download.php does not check whether a user is logged in and has download privileges.
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 confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Reaching this weakness in Membership Simplified <= 1.58 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Membership Simplified yet, so installs running <= 1.58 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Membership Simplified: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Membership Simplified
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