Vulnerability report

Exploited in the wild High confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2022-31474

BackupBuddy Path Traversal

iThemes / BackupBuddy · 8.5.8.0 to <= 8.7.4.1

Watch CVE-2022-31474 Browse KEV feed
Severity
CVSS 7.5 · High
Confidence
High
Exploit status
Exploited in the wild
EPSS
63.8%
First observed
—
Last observed
—

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2022-31474 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting iThemes BackupBuddy. Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in iThemes BackupBuddy allows Path...

Is it exploited?

Yes. Previdian tracks this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability. Confidence is high. Also confirmed by third-party sources.

Who is affected?

iThemes / BackupBuddy 8.5.8.0 to <= 8.7.4.1.

What should we do?

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

Overview

BackupBuddy Path Traversal

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in iThemes BackupBuddy allows Path Traversal.This issue affects BackupBuddy: from 8.5.8.0 through 8.7.4.1.

iThemes Affected
BackupBuddy
Through 8.7.4.1
View vendor advisory (opens in new tab)
Published
13 Mar 2023
Exploitation Reported
07 Sep 2022
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

wordpress nuclei_scanner

CVE References

  • CVE Record CVE.org · CVE Record https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-31474
  • Vendor Advisory — ithemes.com ithemes.com · Vendor Advisory https://ithemes.com/blog/wordpress-vulnerability-report-special-editi...
  • VDB Entry — patchstack.com patchstack.com · VDB Entry https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/backupbuddy/wordpress-b...

Exploitation evidence

Why Previdian marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

Wordfence

Recorded 07 Sep 2022

A trusted third party reported exploitation.

Proof of concept available

Nuclei Templates

Recorded 12 Jun 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the Previdian Pro API.

Learn about Pro API access
Source Added
Wordfence First 2022-09-07 07:56 UTC

Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
User-Agents
Callback hosts
0
0
0

Request targets and User-Agents available in Pro. Callback host details available in Enterprise.

Virtual patch status

No Previdian virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

Learn about virtual patches →

Scanner Artifacts

Scanner and exploit-framework references linked to this CVE.

Scanner Reference Detected
Nuclei https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2022/CVE-2022-31474.yaml 25 Apr 2025

Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

7.5 High

Potential damage if exploited. Separate from whether attackers are using it.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

EPSS

63.8%

Estimated chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Previdian's warning comes from evidence, not this score.

Weaknesses

Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') CWE-22

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

BackupBuddy - Local File Inclusion

nuclei · Created Unknown

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. 14:20 UTC

    Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. 00:00 UTC

    Nuclei template available

    Scanner coverage available

  3. 13:21 UTC

    CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  4. 07:56 UTC

    Added to Previdian KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  5. 14:36 UTC

    CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2022-31474

Sample API response 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2022-31474",
  "confidence": "High",
  "cvss_score": 7.5,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.63761,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 0, "sensors": 0 }
}