CVE-2026-3835: Buildwps Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files

Medium severity, CVSS 5.3. EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

The Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of protected files due to insufficient token validation in the `get_advance_file_by_url()` method in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.8.8 The method uses a SQL `LIKE` operator for token lookup without escaping wildcard characters via `$wpdb->esc_like()`. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to bypass the private token requirement by supplying SQL wildcard characters (such as `%`) as the token value, matching any record in the plugin's file table and downloading any protected file.

Affected products

• Buildwps Prevent Direct Access – Protect WordPress Files: up to and including 2.8.8.8

Published 2026-08-13. Last modified 2026-08-14.