GHSA-WRJ5-2CC6-7P8J
Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-02-25 12:30 – Updated: 2026-02-25 12:30The 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 $wpdb->insert() directly to the wp_postmeta table instead of WordPress's standard add_post_meta() function, which would call is_protected_meta() to prevent lower-privileged users from setting protected meta keys (those starting with _). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary protected post meta keys such as _wp_page_template, _wp_attached_file, and other sensitive meta keys on duplicated posts via the customMetaData JSON array parameter in the /wp-json/post-duplicator/v1/duplicate-post REST API endpoint.
{
"affected": [],
"aliases": [
"CVE-2026-2301"
],
"database_specific": {
"cwe_ids": [
"CWE-862"
],
"github_reviewed": false,
"github_reviewed_at": null,
"nvd_published_at": "2026-02-25T10:16:18Z",
"severity": "MODERATE"
},
"details": "The Post Duplicator plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary protected post meta insertion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8. This is due to the `duplicate_post()` function in `includes/api.php` using `$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.",
"id": "GHSA-wrj5-2cc6-7p8j",
"modified": "2026-02-25T12:30:28Z",
"published": "2026-02-25T12:30:28Z",
"references": [
{
"type": "ADVISORY",
"url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-2301"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L843"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L923"
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"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="
},
{
"type": "WEB",
"url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e5c86f72-934c-4f3b-ab2a-65df1490ca8a?source=cve"
}
],
"schema_version": "1.4.0",
"severity": [
{
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N",
"type": "CVSS_V3"
}
]
}
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.