Noptin <= 4.4.3 - Unauthenticated Local File Inclusion via 'the_template_path' Merge-Tag Attribute via Stored Subscriber first_name

The Noptin – Newsletter, New Post Notifications & Email Automation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 4.4.3 via the 'noptin_fields[first_name]' parameter parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers 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 public Manage Preferences page issues a nonce to unauthenticated visitors, meaning there is no effective authorization barrier — an unauthenticated attacker can store the malicious payload as their first_name and have it executed the next time any newsletter is sent by the site operator. Successful exploitation additionally requires an action by an administrator — the attacker cannot trigger the vulnerability on their own.

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. 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: Noptin 4.4.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

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