{"id":59460,"date":"2025-07-18T04:46:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T04:46:06","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-08-29T22:44:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T04:44:09","slug":"cve-2020-36847-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-simple-file-list-wordpress-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2020-36847-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-simple-file-list-wordpress-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2020-36847: Remote Code Execution Vulnerability in Simple-File-List WordPress Plugin<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Simple-File-List Plugin for WordPress, popular for file management among the WordPress community, has been found to contain a critical remote code execution vulnerability. Identified as CVE-2020-36847, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to any WordPress site using versions up to, and including, 4.2.2 of the plugin. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-26074-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-orkes-conductor-v3-21-11\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65971\">vulnerability to execute arbitrary code<\/a> on the server, potentially compromising the system and leading to data leakage.<br \/>\nThis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-47998-severe-heap-based-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-windows-routing-and-remote-access-service\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69251\">vulnerability is of particular concern due to the high severity<\/a> score of 9.8 assigned by CVSS, which reflects its potential impact on system integrity and confidentiality. The fact that this vulnerability can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-42959-unauthenticated-replay-attack-exploiting-hmac-reuse\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74850\">exploited without the attacker<\/a> requiring any prior authentication makes it all the more dangerous.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2020-36847<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (CVSS: 9.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Remote<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-27050-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise-and-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"74849\">System compromise and potential data<\/a> leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3564732287\" 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: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\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: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\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: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Simple-File-List <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5835-droip-plugin-for-wordpress-unauthorized-access-and-modification-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69250\">Plugin for WordPress<\/a> | Up to and including 4.2.2<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6380-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-onlyoffice-docs-plugin-for-wordpress\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69249\">vulnerability lies in the &#8216;rename&#8217; function of the Simple-File-List plugin<\/a>. An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this function to rename a previously uploaded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52809-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-national-weather-service-alerts\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65972\">PHP file<\/a> disguised with a .png extension to a .php extension. Once the malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49416-critical-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-fastw3b-llc-fw-gallery\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"66083\">PHP file<\/a> is successfully renamed, it can be executed on the server, leading to remote code execution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2034184261\" 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>The following is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This is a sample HTTP POST request that an attacker might use to rename a malicious file:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-content\/plugins\/simple-file-list\/ee-upload-engine.php HTTP\/1.1\nHost: vulnerable-site.com\nfileOldName=malicious.png&amp;fileNewName=malicious.php<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this request, `fileOldName` parameter is the name of the already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6058-critical-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-wpbookit-wordpress-plugin\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"66493\">uploaded malicious file<\/a> disguised as a .png file and `fileNewName` is the new name with a .php extension. After this request, the server will rename the file, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-28946-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-bzotheme-printxtore\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"66157\">PHP code can be executed remotely<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate this vulnerability, it is strongly advised to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch. If for some reason the patch cannot be applied promptly, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. These systems can be configured to block or alert on HTTP requests that attempt to rename <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49886-critical-php-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-webgeniuslab-zikzag-core\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"66158\">files with a .php<\/a> extension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The Simple-File-List Plugin for WordPress, popular for file management among the WordPress community, has been found to contain a critical remote code execution vulnerability. Identified as CVE-2020-36847, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to any WordPress site using versions up to, and including, 4.2.2 of the plugin. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability to [&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":[80],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-59460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-rce"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460","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=59460"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67505,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59460\/revisions\/67505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=59460"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=59460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}