WordPress wordpress core

WordPress Core < 6.2.1 — Directory Traversal

CVE-2023-2745Published May 16, 2023 · Updated Nov 13, 2026

Affected: <6.2.1Update to 4.1.38 or 4.2.35 or 4.3.31 or 4.4.30 or 4.5.29 or 4.6.26 or 4.7.26 or 4.8.22 or 4.9.23 or 5.0.19 or 5.1.16 or 5.2.18 or 5.3.15 or 5.4.13 or 5.5.12 or 5.6.11 or 5.7.9 or 5.8.7 or 5.9.6 or 6.0.4 or 6.1.2 or 6.2.1 or newer

Fixed versions are per release branch: update to the fix for the branch you run.

All remediation steps

Watch core

Medium5.4CVSS 3.15.4CISA KEVNot listedAccessNo account needed

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Overview

Advisory ID: CVE-2023-2745
Product: WordPress wordpress
Affected: <6.2.1
Fixed in: 4.1.38, 4.2.35, 4.3.31, 4.4.30, 4.5.29, 4.6.26, 4.7.26, 4.8.22, 4.9.23, 5.0.19, 5.1.16, 5.2.18, 5.3.15, 5.4.13, 5.5.12, 5.6.11, 5.7.9, 5.8.7, 5.9.6, 6.0.4, 6.1.2, 6.2.1
Weakness: CWE-22 Path Traversal
Required access: No account needed
Published: May 16, 2023 · updated Nov 13, 2026
Credit: Ram, Matt Rusnak
Source: Wordfence Intelligence

Affected< 6.2.1
Patched in4.1.38 / 4.2.35 / 4.3.31 / 4.4.30 / 4.5.29 / 4.6.26 / 4.7.26 / 4.8.22 / 4.9.23 / 5.0.19 / 5.1.16 / 5.2.18 / 5.3.15 / 5.4.13 / 5.5.12 / 5.6.11 / 5.7.9 / 5.8.7 / 5.9.6 / 6.0.4 / 6.1.2 / 6.2.1

5.4

CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)

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

What does this vector mean?

AV:N Attack vector: Network
AC:H Attack complexity: High
PR:N Privileges required: None
UI:N User interaction: None
S:C Scope: Changed
C:L Confidentiality: Low
I:L Integrity: Low
A:N Availability: None

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.

Not sure which version you run? Run a passive check — it reads public files only.

Remediation & mitigations

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 4.1.38, 4.2.35, 4.3.31, 4.4.30, 4.5.29, 4.6.26, 4.7.26, 4.8.22, 4.9.23, 5.0.19, 5.1.16, 5.2.18, 5.3.15, 5.4.13, 5.5.12, 5.6.11, 5.7.9, 5.8.7, 5.9.6, 6.0.4, 6.1.2, 6.2.1
Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.

References & provenance

Proof-of-concept & detection

No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.

Advisories & patches

Advisorywordfence.com

Timeline

May 16, 2023
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 5.4
Nov 13, 2026
Record last updated

Sources & licenses

Wordfence record

Vulnerability data: Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
CVE® identifiers: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
CVSS / CWE: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

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