Ultimate Member – User Profile, User Registration, Login & Membership Plugin <= 2.5.0 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Directory Traversal via Shortcodes
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.5.1
- Affected Plugin
- Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin
- Affected Version
<= 2.5.0- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2022-3361
At a glance
CVE-2022-3361 is a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Ultimate Member WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.5.0. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.5.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2022, reported by Ruijie Li.
Vulnerability Overview
The Ultimate Member plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to directory traversal in versions up to, and including 2.5.0 due to insufficient input validation on the 'template' attribute used in shortcodes. This makes it possible for attackers with administrative privileges to supply arbitrary paths using traversal (../../) to access and include files outside of the intended directory. If an attacker can successfully upload a php file then remote code execution via inclusion may also be possible. Note: for users with less than administrative capabilities, /wp-admin access needs to be enabled for that user in order for this to be exploitable by those users.
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')
Ultimate Member <= 2.5.0 carries this weakness at template, and reaching it takes an account at Contributor 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 Ultimate Member the fix is 2.5.1: builds <= 2.5.0 are affected, anything from 2.5.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.5.1, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Contributor 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: Ultimate Member 2.5.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin
- 10.0CVE-2020-36157: Ultimate Member <= 2.1.11 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2020-36157 - 10.0CVE-2020-36155: Ultimate Member <= 2.1.11 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2020-36155 - 9.9CVE-2020-36156: Ultimate Member <= 2.1.11 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2020-36156 - 9.8CVE-2024-1071: Ultimate Member SQL Injection
CVE-2024-1071 - 9.8CVE-2023-3460: Ultimate Member <= 2.6.6 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2023-3460 - 9.8Ultimate Member <= 1.3.83 Shortcode Injection
- 9.8Ultimate Member <= 1.3.75 Password Reset
- 9.8Ultimate Member Authorization Bypass to Arbitrary File Upload/Delete
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