Description

The AI Website Builder WordPress plugin (GitHub build) 1.0.0 does not perform any authorisation or nonce check on its REST API routes, allowing unauthenticated attackers to install and activate plugins and themes, import content from a URL under their control, write a file of their choosing into the uploads directory, and delete site content and media. On a host that serves PHP from the uploads directory, that file write is remote code execution.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-04T10:17:13.340Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-04T10:17:13.340Z",
  "executiveSummary": "The AI Website Builder WordPress plugin (GitHub build) version 1.0.0 is affected by a critical vulnerability stemming from a lack of authorization and nonce verification across its REST API endpoints.\nThis vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to perform unauthorized administrative actions, including the installation and activation of arbitrary plugins and themes, content manipulation, media deletion, and arbitrary file writes to the uploads directory.\nThe security flaw poses a severe risk to site integrity and server confidentiality, as it enables full control over the WordPress instance.\nWhen the hosting environment is misconfigured to permit PHP execution within the /uploads/ directory, the arbitrary file write capability leads directly to Remote Code Execution (RCE), allowing the attacker to compromise the underlying server.\nThe attack requires no authentication or special privileges, meaning any remote user can exploit the REST API routes exposed by the plugin to perform these actions.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of this vulnerability is the complete absence of access control checks (authorization) and cryptographic nonce verification in the REST API handler functions defined by the AI Website Builder plugin.\nIn WordPress development, REST API endpoints must implement the 'permission_callback' attribute to restrict access; the lack of this implementation causes the plugin's routes to execute administrative functions for any user regardless of authentication state.\nThe exploitation flow begins by interacting with the exposed REST API routes designed for site management. An attacker can craft malicious JSON payloads targeting these endpoints to trigger sensitive internal functions.\nBecause there is no nonce check, the routes are also susceptible to cross-site request forgery, although the lack of authentication makes direct unauthenticated exploitation the primary concern.\nThe attacker can abuse the 'import content' functionality to fetch external malicious content, or the plugin's installation routes to deploy backdoored plugins or themes directly from a remote source.\nThe arbitrary file write primitive allows an attacker to inject files into the /wp-content/uploads/ directory. In standard WordPress configurations, this might be restricted to media files; however, if the server's web configuration (e.g., Apache/Nginx) is insecurely configured to allow PHP execution within this directory, the uploaded files can be triggered via a direct HTTP request.\nBy uploading a malicious PHP script disguised as an image or an arbitrary extension that the server executes, the attacker gains the ability to execute code with the permissions of the web server user.\nPost-exploitation, the attacker maintains persistence by installing malicious plugins or themes, overwriting existing site files, or deleting critical data and media assets to facilitate site takeover or data exfiltration.\nThe vulnerability affects version 1.0.0 of the AI Website Builder plugin. It is exposed to any network with access to the WordPress REST API, which is publicly reachable by default on standard WordPress installations."
}