WP Hide & Security Enhancer <= 2.5.1 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Contents Deletion
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.5.2
- Affected Plugin
- WP Hide & Security Enhancer
- Affected Version
<= 2.5.1- CVSS
- 7.5High
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2024-11585
At a glance
CVE-2024-11585 is a high-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the WP Hide & Security Enhancer WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.5.1. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.5.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2024, reported by mikemyers.
Vulnerability Overview
The WP Hide & Security Enhancer plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file contents deletion due to a missing authorization and insufficient file path validation in the file-process.php in all versions up to, and including, 2.5.1. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete the contents of arbitrary files on the server, which can break the site or lead to data loss.
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 integrity.
CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Reaching this weakness in WP Hide & Security Enhancer <= 2.5.1 takes no account at all. 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 WP Hide & Security Enhancer the fix is 2.5.2: builds <= 2.5.1 are affected, anything from 2.5.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.5.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
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. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Hide & Security Enhancer 2.5.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in WP Hide & Security Enhancer
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