BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin: Privilege escalation or authentication bypass
BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin is affected by privilege escalation or authentication bypass. Exploitation requires an authenticated WordPress account. A successful request can grant permissions or access that the caller should not possess.
- Component
- BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin
- Plugin slug
backwpup- Affected
- See vendor advisory
- Safe version
- See mitigation notes
- Published
- Feb 19, 2026
- Weakness
- CWE-862 — Missing Authorization
This CVE was published Feb 19, 2026 and is one of 11 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin to a release outside the affected range, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
No confirmed safe version is listed. Consider a vendor-supported patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality while you assess the risk.
Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.
Technical description
The BackWPup – WordPress Backup & Restore Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to privilege escalation due to a missing capability check on the save_site_option() function in all versions up to, and including, 5.6.2. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with level access and above, to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to update the default role for registration to administrator and enable user registration for attackers to gain administrative user access to a vulnerable site.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H