CVE-2019-15822

WPS Child Theme Generator < 1.2 - Directory Traversal

2019-07-23 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.2
Affected Plugin: WPS Child Theme Generator
Affected Version: <= 1.1
CVSS: 9.8Critical
Weakness type: CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE: CVE-2019-15822

View all WPS Child Theme Generator vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2019-15822 is a critical-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the WPS Child Theme Generator WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.1. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2019, reported by Julio Potier.

Vulnerability Overview

The wps-child-theme-generator plugin before 1.2 for WordPress has classes/helpers.php directory traversal.

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 confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Reaching this weakness in WPS Child Theme Generator <= 1.1 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 WPS Child Theme Generator the fix is 1.2: builds <= 1.1 are affected, anything from 1.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WPS Child Theme Generator: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WPS Child Theme Generator 1.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-15822 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3c0bd6ee-da23-4e1e-9dbc-1ee4a111f7f8 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-15822

CVSS Vector

9.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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