CVE-2016-6896

Description

Directory traversal vulnerability in the wp_ajax_update_plugin function in wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php in WordPress 4.5.3 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service or read certain text files via a .. (dot dot) in the plugin parameter to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, as demonstrated by /dev/random read operations that deplete the entropy pool.

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

Debian

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Debian 14	wordpress	4.6.1+dfsg-1	—
Debian 13	wordpress	4.6.1+dfsg-1	—
Debian 12	wordpress	4.6.1+dfsg-1	—

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗

Release	Package	Fixed in	Advisory
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS	wordpress	No fix yet	—

Public exploits

Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.

Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.

Exploit-DB 1

WordPress Core 4.5.3 - Directory Traversal / Denial of Service EDB-40288 · webapps · Aug 22, 2016 · verified

Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.

Directory traversal vulnerability in the wp_ajax_update_plugin function in wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php in WordPress 4.5.3 allows rem…