Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-4853 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 4.9 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Destruction (T1485); ranked at the 50th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-23354
Vulnerability Data
The JetBackup – Backup, Restore & Migrate plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Path Traversal leading to Arbitrary Directory Deletion in versions up to and including 3.1.19.8. This is due to insufficient input validation on the fileName parameter in the…
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file upload handler. The plugin sanitizes the fileName parameter using sanitize_text_field(), which removes HTML tags but does not prevent path traversal sequences like '../'. The unsanitized filename is then directly concatenated in Upload::getFileLocation() without using basename() or validating the resolved path stays within the intended directory. When an invalid file is uploaded, the cleanup logic calls dirname() on the traversed path and passes it to Util::rm(), which recursively deletes the entire resolved directory. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with administrator-level access to traverse outside the intended upload directory and trigger deletion of critical WordPress directories such as wp-content/plugins, effectively disabling all installed plugins and causing severe site disruption.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Path traversal enables authenticated admin to trigger recursive arbitrary directory deletion (e.g., wp-content/plugins) via unsanitized fileName and Util::rm(), directly mapping to Data Destruction.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires validation of the fileName input to reject path traversal sequences such as '../' before any directory operations occur.
Restricts the actions an administrator account can perform, limiting the ability to invoke the vulnerable upload/cleanup code paths.
Disables or restricts the file-upload handler feature that concatenates unsanitized paths into directory deletion operations.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.