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Prime Mover - Security Vulnerability (CVE-2026-101889)

CVE-2026-101889

The Prime Mover plugin for WordPress before 2.2.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows authenticated administrators to delete arbitrary directories by importing a crafted WPRIME/TAR package with manipulated tar_root_folder values in wprime-config.json. Attackers can exploit insufficient path validation in computeExtractVariables() and validateImportedSiteVsPackage() to cause primeMoverDoDelete() to remove directories outside the intended extraction path, potentially deleting critical WordPress directories such as wp-admin and rendering the site inoperable.

CVE-2026-101889

HIGH CVSS 7.0 Published 2026-10-01 Updated 2026-10-02
AI Risk Elevated (64/100) Active Exploit: No strong signal Published Exploit: No public exploit references Priority: P3 Priority
Severity Band HIGH
CVSS Vector CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Affected Components 1
Reference Links 2
AI Risk Engine Elevated (64/100)
Exploitability Medium
Active Exploitation No strong signal
Published Exploit Status No public exploit references

Threat Timeline

  1. 2026-10-01 CVE published and first recorded in the threat feed.
  2. 2026-10-02 Record updated with latest vulnerability metadata.
  3. 2026-10-08 AI technical context refreshed for mitigation and impact guidance.
  4. Now Monitoring for follow-up changes, linked references, and new related CVEs.

AI Context

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AI Updated 2 days ago

AI enriched 2 days ago (2026-10-08 01:02 UTC)

Technical Summary

The Prime Mover plugin for WordPress before 2.2.1 contains a path traversal vulnerability that allows authenticated administrators to delete arbitrary directories by importing a crafted WPRIME/TAR package with manipulated tar_root_folder values in wprime-config.json. Attackers can exploit insufficient path validation in computeExtractVariables() and validateImportedSiteVsPackage() to cause primeMoverDoDelete() to remove directories outside the intended extraction path, potentially deleting critical WordPress directories such as wp-admin and rendering the site inoperable.

Potential Impact

Severity is HIGH (CVSS 7.0). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.

Exploitability Assessment

Exploitability is assessed as Medium based on severity and technical exposure profile.

Primary risk drivers: severity and technical exposure profile

Mitigation Recommendations

Validate affected product versions, prioritize patching, and monitor references for vendor remediation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, apply compensating controls and limit exposure of vulnerable surfaces.

Detection & Monitoring

Track authentication anomalies, unexpected file writes, and suspicious plugin API activity around affected components.

Business Impact Lens

AI risk score 64/100 (Elevated, Medium) with priority P3 Priority. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.

Affected Products

Prime Mover PLUGIN · prime-mover Affected: < 2.2.1 Fixed in: 2.2.1

References

What to do about this

Patch promptly The consequence is significant even where an attacker needs a foothold first.

Fix it

Update Prime Mover to 2.2.1 or later.

That is the complete fix. Everything below is what protects you in the meantime.

Cannot update today? Request / payload inspection (WAF) in Hack Halt ProSecure blocks this class of attack before WordPress processes the request.

Inspect request parameters and bodies for injection, traversal and file-inclusion payloads, and refuse the request rather than logging it.

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Not sure if you are affected?

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Am I affected by this vulnerability?

You are affected if your site runs Prime Mover. Versions below 2.2.1 are vulnerable; that release and later are not.

How do I fix it?

Update Prime Mover to version 2.2.1 or later. That is the complete fix. Until you can update, Request / payload inspection (WAF) in Hack Halt ProSecure contains this class of attack at the request layer.

What can an attacker actually do?

This is a Path Traversal flaw. An attacker who exploits it can read files outside the intended directory, including wp-config.php.