BackWPup <= 4.0.1 — Authenticated (Administrator+) Directory Traversal
CVE-2023-5505Published · Updated Action summary
Affected: ≤4.0.1Update to 4.0.2 or newer
All remediation steps- Severity
- Medium6.8
- CVSS
- 6.8CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:HWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:LAttack complexity- Low
PR:HPrivileges required- High
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:CScope- Changed
C:NConfidentiality- None
I:NIntegrity- None
A:HAvailability- High
- Weakness
- CWE-22 Path Traversal
- Required access
- Unknown
- Exploit prediction (EPSS)
- No score
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
On this page8
Am I affected?
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin backwpup
- Affected≤ 4.0.1
- Patched in4.0.2
Update to 4.0.2 or newer.
You are affected if you run ≤ 4.0.1. Version 4.0.2 and later are not affected by this issue.
- Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin.
- No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.
What to do
- Update to version 4.0.2, or a newer patched version
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
- Watch BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.
Advisory
Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Marco Wotschka.
The BackWPup plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in versions up to, and including, 4.0.1 via the job-specific backup folder. This allows authenticated attackers to store backups in arbitrary folders on the server provided they can be written to by the server. Additionally, default settings will place an index.php and a .htaccess file into the chosen directory (unless already present) when the first backup job is run that are intended to prevent directory listing and file access. This means that an attacker could set the backup directory to the root of another site in a shared environment and thus disable that site.
Exploits & references
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Related CVEs
More in BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
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|---|---|---|---|
| Medium5.3 | Unauthenticated Information Exposure <5.7.7Update to 5.7.7 | CVE-2026-86826 | |
| Medium4.9 | Authenticated (Administrator+) Path Traversal <5.7.7Update to 5.7.7 | CVE-2026-86828 | |
| Medium5.3 | 5.7.6 - Missing Authorization 3.3 – 5.7.6Update to 5.7.7 | CVE-2026-86827 | |
| Medium4.3 | 5.7.4 - Missing Authorization 5.2.2 – 5.7.4Update to 5.7.5 | CVE-2026-86815 | |
| High7.2 | Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting ≤5.7.4Update to 5.7.5 | CVE-2026-65443 |
- Medium5.3Unauthenticated Information Exposure
<5.7.7Update to 5.7.7
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<5.7.7Update to 5.7.7
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- High7.2Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting
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Same weakness (Path Traversal)
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| Critical9.8 | Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via File Upload via Public Form Submission | CVE-2026-125055 | |
| Critical9.8 | Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution via 'form' Parameter | CVE-2026-119077 | |
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Timeline
CVE published
Severity medium, CVSS 6.8
Record last updated
Sources & licenses
Wordfence record- Vulnerability data
- Wordfence Intelligence. [object Object] Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
- CVE® identifiers
- [object Object]. 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.
- VulnCrest content
- Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.