{"id":56437,"date":"2025-07-01T15:53:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T15:53:42","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-31T06:31:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T12:31:58","slug":"cve-2021-4457-critical-unauthenticated-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-zoomsounds-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2021-4457-critical-unauthenticated-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-zoomsounds-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2021-4457: Critical Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload Vulnerability in ZoomSounds Plugin<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The world of cybersecurity is always on the move, with vulnerabilities cropping up regularly. Recently, a significant security flaw-CVE-2021-4457-has been identified in the ZoomSounds WordPress plugin. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6292-critical-vulnerability-in-d-link-dir-825-2-03-leads-to-stack-based-buffer-overflow\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63004\">vulnerability is particularly concerning as it can lead<\/a> to potential system compromise or data leakage. Given the popularity of WordPress and the widespread use of plugins, this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-22236-minion-event-bus-authorization-bypass-vulnerability-posing-serious-security-threats\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63326\">vulnerability has a broad impact surface and poses a serious<\/a> risk to a large number of websites.<br \/>\nZoomSounds, a widely-used audio player plugin, is used by countless websites to add multimedia features. However, versions of the plugin prior to 6.05 contain a critical flaw that allows unauthenticated users to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-50201-critical-os-command-injection-vulnerability-in-wegia-web-manager\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62891\">upload arbitrary files<\/a> anywhere on the web server, thus putting the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the data at risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2021-4457<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (9.1 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32878-critical-vulnerability-in-coros-pace-3-devices-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63199\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-183558806\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>ZoomSounds Plugin | Before 6.05<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability lies in the implementation of the ZoomSounds plugin, which contains a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-24761-severe-php-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-snstheme-dsk\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63161\">PHP file<\/a> that does not properly validate user input. This allows unauthenticated users to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-3515-critical-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-drag-and-drop-multiple-file-upload-for-contact-form-7-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63244\">upload arbitrary files<\/a> to any location on the webserver. The uploaded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4981-critical-file-extraction-vulnerability-in-mattermost-leading-to-potential-remote-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63068\">file could contain malicious code<\/a>, which, when executed, grants the attacker control over the system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-662478955\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Below is a<br \/>\n<strong>conceptual<\/strong><br \/>\n example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is a sample HTTP POST request demonstrating how a malicious user could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32977-unauthenticated-backup-file-upload-vulnerability-in-quest-kace-systems-management-appliance\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64411\">upload an arbitrary file<\/a>:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/zoomsounds-upload\/endpoint.php HTTP\/1.1\nHost: vulnerable-website.com\nContent-Type: multipart\/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW\n----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=&quot;file&quot;; filename=&quot;malicious.php&quot;\nContent-Type: application\/x-php\n&lt;?php\n\/\/ malicious code\n?&gt;\n----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>After the malicious file is uploaded, the attacker can then access this file via a web browser to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-46157-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-efrotech-time-trax\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62904\">execute the malicious code<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate this vulnerability, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4334-critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-simple-user-registration-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64936\">users of the ZoomSounds plugin<\/a> should immediately update to the latest version (6.05 or later), which contains a fix for this issue. If updating is not immediately possible, employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8059-critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-b-blocks-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"76318\">blocking or alerting on attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The world of cybersecurity is always on the move, with vulnerabilities cropping up regularly. Recently, a significant security flaw-CVE-2021-4457-has been identified in the ZoomSounds WordPress plugin. This vulnerability is particularly concerning as it can lead to potential system compromise or data leakage. Given the popularity of WordPress and the widespread use of plugins, this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-56437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56437"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68780,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56437\/revisions\/68780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=56437"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=56437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}