{"id":"CVE-2016-6896","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2016-6896","generatedAt":"2026-10-29T01:41:28.084Z","title":"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 ..","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.","published":"2017-01-18T21:59:00.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T00:51:57.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.0","score":7.1,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-22"],"affected":["wordpress/wordpress"],"epss":{"score":0.38068,"percentile":0.98549,"date":"2026-10-27","history":[{"date":"2026-09-21","score":0.31094,"percentile":0.98229},{"date":"2026-09-22","score":0.38068,"percentile":0.9849}]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":1,"verified":true,"firstPublished":"2016-08-22","source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[{"edbId":40288,"kind":"exploit","title":"WordPress Core 4.5.3 - Directory Traversal / Denial of Service","url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40288","sourceUrl":"https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb/-/blob/main/exploits/php/webapps/40288.txt","file":"exploits/php/webapps/40288.txt","published":"2016-08-22","added":"2016-08-22","updated":"2016-08-22","author":"Yorick Koster","type":"webapps","platform":"php","port":80,"verified":true,"codes":["CVE-2016-6897","CVE-2016-6896"],"tags":null,"aliases":null,"applicationUrl":"http://www.exploit-db.comwordpress-4.5.3.tar.gz","screenshotUrl":null,"referenceUrl":null}]},"verdict":{"level":"urgent","text":"EPSS puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 38.1%, higher than 99% of all known CVEs. Patch or mitigate before the next change window."},"changes":[{"kind":"epss","label":"EPSS jump","at":"2026-09-22T00:00:00.000Z","detail":{"to":0.38068,"from":0.31094,"percentile":0.9849},"summary":"EPSS moved from 31.1% to 38.1% probability of exploitation in the next thirty days."}],"references":[{"url":"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/08/20/1","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036683","source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://sumofpwn.nl/advisory/2016/path_traversal_vulnerability_in_wordpress_core_ajax_handlers.html","tags":["Exploit","Technical Description","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/8606","source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40288/","source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/08/20/1","tags":["Mailing List","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036683","source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://sumofpwn.nl/advisory/2016/path_traversal_vulnerability_in_wordpress_core_ajax_handlers.html","tags":["Exploit","Technical Description","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://wpvulndb.com/vulnerabilities/8606","source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40288/","source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-6896","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}