WordPress Review Plugin: The Ultimate Solution for Building a Review Website <= 5.3.5 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Local File Inclusion via Post Custom Fields
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Version
<= 5.3.5- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
- CVE
CVE-2025-2158
At a glance
CVE-2025-2158 is a high-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the WordPress Review Plugin WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.3.5. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed May 2025, reported by Hiroho Shimada.
Vulnerability Overview
The WordPress Review Plugin: The Ultimate Solution for Building a Review Website plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 5.3.5 via the Post custom fields. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to include and execute arbitrary 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, or pearcmd is enabled on a server with register_argc_argv also enabled.
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. 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 WordPress Review Plugin <= 5.3.5 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for WordPress Review Plugin yet, so installs running <= 5.3.5 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?
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. 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
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C