WP User Manager <= 2.9.12 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary File Deletion via 'current_user_avatar' Parameter

The WP User Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Deletion in all versions up to, and including, 2.9.12. This is due to insufficient validation of user-supplied file paths in the profile update functionality combined with improper handling of array inputs by PHP's filter_input() function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server via the 'current_user_avatar' parameter in a two-stage attack which can make remote code execution possible. This only affects sites with the custom avatar setting enabled.

An attacker needs Subscriber 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. 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: WP User Manager 2.9.13 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

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