Detections
Analytics

Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2016-6896

high Nessus Plugin ID 254485

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - Directory traversal vulnerability in the wp_ajax_update_plugin function in wp-admin/includes/ajax- actions.php in WordPress 4.5.3 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service or read certain text files via a .. (dot dot) in the plugin parameter to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, as demonstrated by /dev/random read operations that deplete the entropy pool. (CVE-2016-6896)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-6896

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 254485

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2016_6896.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 8/25/2025

Updated: 8/25/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2016-6896

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.1

Temporal Score: 6.4

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:wordpress, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/29/2016

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2016-6896