WordPress Anti-Malware Plugin Directory Traversal Flaw

WordPress Plugin Anti-Malware Security and Bruteforce Firewall 4.20.59 contains a directory traversal vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to read arbitrary files by manipulating the file parameter. Attackers can send requests to the duplicator_download action via admin-ajax.php with path traversal sequences to access sensitive system files outside the intended directory.

Casky was already ahead

This CVE exploits attack patterns that Casky's 331matched skills already investigate — long before this vulnerability was disclosed. Claude's reasoning model maps these techniques to MITRE ATT&CK, so practitioners who ran these skills have already seen the threat behaviour in their findings.

Analysis

CVE-2021-47977 exposes a critical directory traversal vulnerability in the Anti-Malware Security and Bruteforce Firewall WordPress plugin (version 4.20.59 and earlier). By manipulating the file parameter in requests to the duplicator_download action via admin-ajax.php, unauthenticated attackers can bypass access controls and read arbitrary files from the server. This is particularly dangerous because it requires no authentication, allowing any external threat actor to reconnaissance the system, extract sensitive configuration files, database credentials, and other proprietary information. WordPress sites running vulnerable versions become vectors for initial access and intelligence gathering, affecting small businesses, enterprises, and hosting providers alike.

Casky's 331 mapped security skills use Claude AI with extended reasoning to detect the attack patterns underlying this vulnerability by analyzing MITRE ATT&CK techniques TA0001 (Reconnaissance) and TA0007 (Discovery). Practitioners using Casky would identify suspicious patterns including: unauthenticated requests to admin-ajax.php with path traversal sequences (../ or encoded variants), access attempts to sensitive directories like /wp-config.php or /etc/passwd, and anomalous file parameter values deviating from expected plugin behavior. The platform's skills would flag these indicators across CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory) contexts, correlating request patterns with known exploitation signatures and alerting teams to active reconnaissance or data exfiltration attempts in real-time.

Live Threat IntelligenceComing soon

Casky Risk Score

—

EPSS Probability

—

Shodan Exposure

—

GreyNoise Signal

—

Composite risk scoring from EPSS, CISA KEV, Shodan, and GreyNoise — 21 security APIs correlated into a single Casky Risk Score. Coming in Casky Pro. Join early access →

331 Casky skills cover this attack pattern

These skills use Claude AI's reasoning model to surface findings in the same attack categories as CVE-2021-47977.

analyzing-cloud-storage-access-patterns

cloud security · low

Run

analyzing-ios-app-security-with-objection

mobile security · low

Run

analyzing-malicious-url-with-urlscan

phishing defense · medium

Run

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

TA0001 TA0007

Investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2021-47977

Casky has 331 skills that investigate the attack patterns behind CVE-2021-47977. Run one and get CVSS-scored findings in 3 minutes.

Run the skill that detects this →

X Instagram LinkedIn