Instawp Connect – 1 Click Wp Staging & Migration

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.4.1 This is due to the plugin registering its admin page via `add_management_page()` using a role name returned by `InstaWP_Setting::get_allowed_role()` as the required capability — which WordPress resolves as a real capability match for any user holding that role — combined with `generate_section_field()` rendering the master API key from the `instawp_api_options` option directly as the `value` attribute of a plain-text HTML input with no additional `manage_options` or equivalent capability check. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to read the plaintext master API key, use its SHA-256-derived secret as a bearer token accepted by the plugin's REST API `validate_api_request()`, and call `POST /wp-json/instawp-connect/v2/auto-login` to mint a 30-second single-use login URL that sets an administrator authentication cookie — fully escalating their privileges. Exploitation requires the site to be actively connected to InstaWP and an administrator to have added the attacker's role to the plugin's Sync Tab Access list (`instawp_sync_tab_roles`); notably, the settings tab suppression logic only hides the tab when `administrator` is absent from the list entirely, meaning a mixed configuration retaining administrator alongside a lower role still serves the full settings page — including the API key — to the lower-privileged user.

Published: 2026-10-16T04:27:01.115Z
Updated: 2026-10-16T15:46:59.318Z

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.3.6 via the (top-level script) function. This is due to the plugin stores its encrypted options file as options-{migrate_key}.txt in wp-content/instawpbackups/ without deploying an index.php or .htaccess to prevent directory listing, exposing the 40-character migrate_key on Apache servers with directory indexing enabled, which allows an attacker to derive the AES-256-CBC passphrase via SHA256(migrate_key), decrypt the options file to recover the api_signature. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to get the database access details and api_signature. Exploitation requires the target WordPress site to be hosted on Apache with directory listing enabled (Options +Indexes) for the wp-content/instawpbackups/ directory, and time limited because it can only be exploited during the migration period.

Published: 2026-08-11T19:37:28.661Z
Updated: 2026-08-12T12:57:54.689Z

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.0.85 via the 'instawp-database-manager' parameter. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to include and execute arbitrary files on the server, allowing the execution of any PHP code in those files. This can be used to bypass access controls, obtain sensitive data, or achieve code execution in cases where php file types can be uploaded and included, or are already present on the filesystem locally. There are currently no known vulnerabilities in this plugin that make file upload possible, meaning this won't be exploitable to achieve remote code execution on most instances with just this plugin alone. Another vulnerability would need to be present on the site allowing arbitrary file upload in order to leverage this to achieve remote code execution.

Published: 2025-04-11T04:21:30.792Z
Updated: 2026-04-08T16:51:18.594Z

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.

Published: 2024-07-11T03:33:19.573Z
Updated: 2026-04-08T17:10:12.110Z

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary option updates due to a missing authorization checks on the REST API calls in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.0.38. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to connect the site to InstaWP API, edit arbitrary site options and create administrator accounts.

Published: 2024-06-12T11:05:07.625Z
Updated: 2026-04-08T17:09:29.385Z