CVE-2026-2301 (GCVE-0-2026-2301)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-02-25 09:26 – Updated: 2026-02-25 21:00
VLAI?
Title
Post Duplicator <= 3.0.8 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Contributor+) Protected Post Meta Insertion via 'customMetaData' Parameter
Summary
The Post Duplicator plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary protected post meta insertion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8. This is due to the `duplicate_post()` function in `includes/api.php` using `$wpdb->insert()` directly to the `wp_postmeta` table instead of WordPress's standard `add_post_meta()` function, which would call `is_protected_meta()` to prevent lower-privileged users from setting protected meta keys (those starting with `_`). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary protected post meta keys such as `_wp_page_template`, `_wp_attached_file`, and other sensitive meta keys on duplicated posts via the `customMetaData` JSON array parameter in the `/wp-json/post-duplicator/v1/duplicate-post` REST API endpoint.
Severity ?
4.3 (Medium)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
CWE
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version
metaphorcreations Post Duplicator Affected: * , ≤ 3.0.8 (semver)
Create a notification for this product.
Credits
Nguyen Ba Hung
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-2301",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-02-25T21:00:26.768409Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-02-25T21:00:43.772Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Post Duplicator",
          "vendor": "metaphorcreations",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "3.0.8",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "*",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "Nguyen Ba Hung"
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "The Post Duplicator plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary protected post meta insertion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8. This is due to the `duplicate_post()` function in `includes/api.php` using `$wpdb-\u003einsert()` directly to the `wp_postmeta` table instead of WordPress\u0027s standard `add_post_meta()` function, which would call `is_protected_meta()` to prevent lower-privileged users from setting protected meta keys (those starting with `_`). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary protected post meta keys such as `_wp_page_template`, `_wp_attached_file`, and other sensitive meta keys on duplicated posts via the `customMetaData` JSON array parameter in the `/wp-json/post-duplicator/v1/duplicate-post` REST API endpoint."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 4.3,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-862",
              "description": "CWE-862 Missing Authorization",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-02-25T09:26:51.333Z",
        "orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
        "shortName": "Wordfence"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e5c86f72-934c-4f3b-ab2a-65df1490ca8a?source=cve"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L923"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L843"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=\u0026sfph_mail=\u0026reponame=\u0026new=3463768%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk\u0026old=3459096%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk\u0026sfp_email=\u0026sfph_mail="
        }
      ],
      "timeline": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-02-11T16:25:17.000Z",
          "value": "Vendor Notified"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-02-24T21:12:32.000Z",
          "value": "Disclosed"
        }
      ],
      "title": "Post Duplicator \u003c= 3.0.8 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Contributor+) Protected Post Meta Insertion via \u0027customMetaData\u0027 Parameter"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
    "assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-2301",
    "datePublished": "2026-02-25T09:26:51.333Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-02-10T18:17:31.628Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-02-25T21:00:43.772Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}


Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.




Sightings

Author Source Type Date

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.