CVE-2026-109400

high

Description

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.

References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/925b009e-3aeb-496d-8218-6ea5dc9d9989?source=cve

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3743786/instawp-connect/trunk/includes/class-instawp-setting.php

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/includes/functions.php#L1041

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/includes/class-instawp-setting.php#L91

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/includes/class-instawp-setting.php#L186

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/includes/class-instawp-hooks.php#L194

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/includes/apis/class-instawp-rest-api.php#L663

https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/instawp-connect/tags/0.1.4.1/admin/class-instawp-admin.php#L153

https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2026-102643

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2026-10-16

Updated: 2026-10-16

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 7.1

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

Severity: High

CVSS v3

Base Score: 7.5

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

Severity: High

EPSS

EPSS: 0.0034