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Medium · 5.4 Scanner template Public exploit CVE-2023-2745 EUVD-2023-34206GHSA-xgqr-2mpj-w9qv

WordPress Core < 6.2.1 - Directory Traversal

Published May 17, 2023 · Updated Apr 8, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence

Vendor: WordPress Product: WordPress Package: wordpress Package: wordpress Category: Web / CMS Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

WordPress Core is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in versions up to, and including, 6.2, via the ‘wp_lang’ parameter. This allows unauthenticated attackers to access and load arbitrary translation files. In cases where an attacker is able to upload a crafted translation file onto the site, such as via an upload form, this could be also used to perform a Cross-Site Scripting attack.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
WordPress Foundation WordPress < 4.1.38, 4.2 – < 4.2.35, 4.3 – < 4.3.31, 4.4 – < 4.4.30, 4.5 – < 4.5.29, 4.6 – < 4.6.26, 4.7 – < 4.7.26, 4.8 – < 4.8.22, 4.9 – < 4.9.23, 5.0 – < 5.0.19, 5.1 – < 5.1.16, 5.2 – < 5.2.18, 5.3 – < 5.3.15, 5.4 – < 5.4.13, 5.5 – < 5.5.12, 5.6 – < 5.6.11, 5.7 – < 5.7.9, 5.8 – < 5.8.7, 5.9 – < 5.9.6, 6.0 … 4.1.38

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 ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 wordpress 6.2.1+dfsg1-1 —
Debian 13 wordpress 6.2.1+dfsg1-1 —
Debian 12 wordpress 6.1.6+dfsg1-0+deb12u1 DSA-5685-1
Debian 11 wordpress 5.7.11+dfsg1-0+deb11u1 DSA-5685-1
Debian 10 wordpress 5.0.19+dfsg1-0+deb10u1 DLA-3462-1

Ubuntu

Security tracker ↗
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS wordpress No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS wordpress No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS wordpress No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS wordpress No fix yet —
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

GitHub 1 repository

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

Automated scanner template

A ready-made Nuclei template detects this vulnerability automatically. Vulnerabilities with public scanner templates are typically probed across the internet soon after the template appears — exposed systems should be patched first.

Source: projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates (MIT) — updated daily. Only links are listed.

Advisories 3

References