WP-BusinessDirectory – Business directory plugin for WordPress: Filesystem traversal
WP-BusinessDirectory – Business directory plugin for WordPress is affected by filesystem traversal. The vulnerable path is reachable without authentication. A crafted path can escape the intended directory and reach files or directories elsewhere on the server. The published affected range is <= 4.0.1.
- Component
- WP-BusinessDirectory – Business directory plugin for WordPress
- Plugin slug
wp-businessdirectory- Affected
- <= 4.0.1
- Safe version
> 4.0.1- Published
- Jul 01, 2026
This CVE was published Jul 01, 2026 and is one of 6 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update WP-BusinessDirectory – Business directory plugin for WordPress to a release after 4.0.1, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.
Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.
Technical description
The WP-BusinessDirectory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Deletion in versions up to and including 4.0.1. This is due to insufficient path validation in the remove() method of the JBusinessDirectoryControllerUpload class. The task=upload.remove endpoint is accessible without authentication via the plugin's frontend routing system. The _filename parameter is accepted with RAW filter (no sanitization), and the helper function makePathFile() only normalizes directory separator characters without stripping path traversal sequences (../). When combined with the _path_type=2 parameter, which sets the base directory to the plugin's site folder, an attacker can supply a _filename value containing ../ sequences to traverse outside the plugin directory and call PHP's unlink() on arbitrary files — including wp-config.php, wp-config-backup.php, or other critical server files accessible to the web server process. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary files on the server.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H