🔐 CVE Alert

CVE-2026-16585

HIGH 7.2

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

CVSS Score
7.2
EPSS Score
0.0%
EPSS Percentile
0th

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.

CWE CWE-22
Vendor wordplus
Product better messages – chat rooms, group chat, private messages & ai chat bots
Published Jul 28, 2026
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CVSS v3 Breakdown

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability

Affected Versions

wordplus / Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots
0 ≤ 2.15.19

References

NVD ↗ CVE.org ↗ EPSS Data ↗
wordfence.com: https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e9274957-7584-4df6-bb2a-d745510f5033?source=cve plugins.trac.wordpress.org: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.19/addons/stickers/rest.php#L285 plugins.trac.wordpress.org: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.19/addons/stickers/rest.php#L287 plugins.trac.wordpress.org: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.19/addons/stickers/pack-manager.php#L764 plugins.trac.wordpress.org: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.19/addons/stickers/rest.php#L153 plugins.trac.wordpress.org: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3623636/bp-better-messages/trunk/addons/stickers/rest.php?old=3527109&old_path=bp-better-messages%2Ftrunk%2Faddons%2Fstickers%2Frest.php

Credits

Wordfence PRISM