InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration: Privilege escalation or authentication bypass

InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration is affected by privilege escalation or authentication bypass. The vulnerable path is reachable without authentication. A successful request can grant permissions or access that the caller should not possess.

CVE / CNA score 9.8 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com

NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.

Component: InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration
Plugin slug: instawp-connect
Affected: See vendor advisory
Safe version: See mitigation notes
Published: Jul 11, 2024
Weakness: CWE-288 — Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
CWE-287 — Improper Authentication

This CVE was published Jul 11, 2024 and is one of 15 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

Update InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration 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.

Source record

Technical description

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.0.44. This is due to insufficient verification of the API key. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing user on the site, such as an administrator, if they have access to the username, and to perform a variety of other administrative tasks. NOTE: This vulnerability was partially fixed in 0.1.0.44, but was still exploitable via Cross-Site Request Forgery.

CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Update, patch or deactivate.

Technical description

Primary and upstream sources