Description

The UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin WordPress plugin before 1.26.8, UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin WordPress plugin before 2.26.8.26 does not have any capability check in a routine that outputs its stored remote storage settings into admin pages when the site is left in a particular post-migration state, allowing any authenticated user, such as a subscriber, to retrieve the credentials of the configured backup destinations, such as passwords and secret keys.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-27T06:17:03.433Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-27T06:17:03.433Z",
  "executiveSummary": "The UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin is susceptible to an Information Disclosure vulnerability due to improper authorization handling within its administrative output routines.\nThe vulnerability originates from the absence of essential capability checks when rendering remote storage configurations in the WordPress admin interface under specific post-migration conditions.\nThis flaw allows any authenticated user, including those with minimal privileges such as subscribers, to illicitly retrieve sensitive credentials, including passwords and secret keys, used for backup storage destinations.\nThe impact is significant, as the exposure of these credentials can lead to unauthorized access to third-party backup repositories, potentially resulting in data theft, modification, or deletion of sensitive site backups.\nThe vulnerability affects UpdraftPlus versions prior to 1.26.8 and 2.26.8.26.\nExploitation requires the site to be in a specific post-migration state and necessitates an authenticated account on the WordPress installation to interface with the vulnerable administrative output routine.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability is a failure to enforce WordPress capability checks (e.g., current_user_can()) within the plugin code responsible for displaying remote storage settings in the admin panel.\nIn typical WordPress development, functions that return sensitive configuration data intended for administrators must perform an explicit authorization check to verify that the requesting user possesses the 'manage_options' or similar administrative capability.\nThe vulnerability manifests when the site is in a specific post-migration state, which triggers a routine that outputs stored remote storage credentials directly to the page markup or data stream.\nBecause the plugin routine fails to validate user permissions, the server-side code processes requests from any authenticated user session regardless of their assigned role.\nAn attacker with a low-privileged account, such as a subscriber, can navigate to the admin page that invokes this vulnerable routine. Upon triggering the page load or the relevant AJAX action, the backend renders the sensitive configuration data, which is then serialized and sent to the client browser.\nThe attacker can then inspect the page source or the network traffic response to extract plain-text credentials, API keys, or secret tokens associated with cloud storage providers configured within UpdraftPlus.\nThis information disclosure bypasses standard security models, as the attacker leverages the plugin's own internal logic to elevate their access to sensitive configuration information.\nOnce the credentials are retrieved, the attacker can use them to access external backup destinations (e.g., Amazon S3, Google Drive, or FTP servers), gaining full control over the integrity and confidentiality of the victim's backup history.\nThis vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it does not require administrative privileges, effectively turning any registered user into a potential threat actor capable of orchestrating secondary attacks on remote infrastructure connected to the WordPress site."
}