Total Upkeep exposes its emergency restore authorization secret
Total Upkeep before 1.17.3 stores emergency-restore authorization material and restore metadata in web-served locations, including cli/verify-
- Component
- Total Upkeep
- Plugin slug
boldgrid-backup- Affected
- < 1.17.3
- Safe version
1.17.3- Published
- Aug 12, 2026
This CVE was published Aug 12, 2026 and is one of 6 known issues for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update to 1.17.3 or later immediately. Rotate exposed restore secrets, review restore activity and backup metadata access, and verify live files and the database against known-good backups.
A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.
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 Total Upkeep WordPress plugin before 1.17.3 does not adequately protect the secret that authorizes its backup-restore functionality and exposes it to unauthenticated users, allowing them to disclose sensitive backup information and to force a full site restore that overwrites the live site's files and database. This is an incomplete fix of CVE-2020-36848, as the protection added at the time never took effect on distributed copies of the plugin.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N