User Meta – User Profile Builder and User management plugin <= 2.4.3 - Path Traversal
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.4.4
- Affected Plugin
- User Meta – User Profile Builder and User management plugin
- Affected Version
< 2.4.4- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2022-0779
At a glance
CVE-2022-0779 is a medium-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the User Meta WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.4.4. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 2.4.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2022, reported by Julien Ahrens.
Vulnerability Overview
The User Meta WordPress plugin before 2.4.4 does not validate the filepath parameter of its um_show_uploaded_file AJAX action, which could allow low privileged users such as subscriber to enumerate the local files on the web server via path traversal payloads
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')
Reaching this weakness in User Meta < 2.4.4 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 User Meta the fix is 2.4.4: builds < 2.4.4 are affected, anything from 2.4.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.4.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to User Meta: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: User Meta 2.4.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in User Meta – User Profile Builder and User management plugin
- 6.5CVE-2024-9262: User Meta IDOR to Sensitive Information Exposure
CVE-2024-9262 - 6.5User Meta Arbitrary File Upload
- 6.1CVE-2025-47611: User Meta <= 3.1.2 Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2025-47611 - 5.5CVE-2022-0376: User Meta <= 2.4.2 Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2022-0376 - 5.3CVE-2024-33575: User Meta <= 3.0 Sensitive Information Exposure
CVE-2024-33575
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