CVE-2023-5505BackWPup <= 4.0.1 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Directory Traversal
- 6.8MediumCVSS base score
- 0.98%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 37% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Wordfence
- 10 months later
· 10 months later
Published
- 20 months later
· 20 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordfenceCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium6.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Medium6.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.98% · top 37% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.8.
Affected products
wp_media · BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
- affected ≤ 4.0.1
References
References5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/98085a23-0cb6-442a-a28a-cb5c2890b60d?source=cve (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/backwpup/trunk/inc/class-page-editjob.php?rev=2818974#L29 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=2980789%40backwpup%2Ftrunk&old=2954541%40backwpup%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail= (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3000176/backwpup/trunk/inc/class-destination-folder.php (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3000176%40backwpup&new=3000176%40backwpup&sfp_email=&sfph_mail= (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2023-57819 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2023-5505)Record last updated .