Skip to content

The Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files...

Moderate severity Unreviewed Published Aug 13, 2026 to the GitHub Advisory Database • Updated Aug 13, 2026

Package

No package listed— Suggest a package

Affected versions

Unknown

Patched versions

Unknown

Description

The Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of protected files due to insufficient token validation in the get_advance_file_by_url() method in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.8.8 The method uses a SQL LIKE operator for token lookup without escaping wildcard characters via $wpdb->esc_like(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to bypass the private token requirement by supplying SQL wildcard characters (such as %) as the token value, matching any record in the plugin's file table and downloading any protected file.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Aug 13, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Aug 13, 2026
Last updated Aug 13, 2026

Severity

Moderate

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(19th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Authorization

The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-3835

GHSA ID

GHSA-xxpw-3xg9-qwph

Source code

No known source code

Dependabot alerts are not supported on this advisory because it does not have a package from a supported ecosystem with an affected and fixed version.

Learn more about GitHub language support

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.