CVE-2026-16585

Better Messages <= 2.15.19 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Arbitrary File Deletion via Path Traversal via 'file' Parameter

State
Published
Severity
7.2 High
Published
Jul 28, 2026
Updated
Jul 28, 2026
Reserved
Jul 22, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

The Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to insufficient file path validation in the delete_sticker function in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.19. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrator-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can easily lead to remote code execution when the right file is deleted (such as wp-config.php). The prefix check intended to restrict deletion to the uploads directory can be bypassed by crafting a URL that begins with the legitimate uploads base URL but embeds ../ traversal sequences in the path portion, as the normalize_sticker function only applies esc_url_raw(), which does not strip ../ sequences, allowing the traversal payload to be stored verbatim in WordPress options.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.2 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HWordfence

Weaknesses

  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Affected Products

ProductVersions
Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Botswordplus
  • 2.15.19 and earlierAffected

References

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