CVE-2024-10957VulnerabilityPublished 4 Jan 2025Updated 6 Jan 2025

CVE-2024-10957: UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin · Deserialization of Untrusted Data

Affects UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration PluginSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 53% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Required: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a user to take some action before the vulnerability can be exploited.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 4 Jan 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-26.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
davidanderson UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin	Affected =1.23.8	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately update the UpdraftPlus plugin to a version beyond 1.24.11 once available, as no patches are currently linked. Until a patch is released, administrators should avoid performing search and replace operations within the plugin. Conduct a thorough audit of all installed plugins and themes to identify and remove or update those containing gadget POP chains that could facilitate exploitation. Implement strict access controls to limit administrator privileges and monitor administrative actions closely. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with rules targeting deserialization attacks and monitor logs for suspicious deserialization activity. Regularly back up WordPress sites and verify backup integrity independently of UpdraftPlus. Finally, maintain an inventory of all WordPress components and apply a defense-in-depth strategy to reduce the risk of chained exploits.

Description

The UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions from 1.23.8 to 1.24.11 via deserialization of untrusted input in the 'recursive_unserialized_replace' function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present. An administrator must perform a search and replace action to trigger the exploit.

Impact

If exploited, this vulnerability could severely impact organizations by enabling attackers to execute arbitrary code, delete critical files, or access sensitive data on WordPress sites using the UpdraftPlus plugin in conjunction with other vulnerable plugins or themes. This could lead to website defacement, data breaches, ransomware deployment, or complete site takeover. Given UpdraftPlus's widespread use for backup and migration, compromised sites may also lose backup integrity, complicating recovery efforts. The requirement for an administrator to trigger the exploit somewhat limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with multiple administrators or automated processes. Organizations relying on WordPress for business-critical applications, e-commerce, or customer data management face significant operational, reputational, and compliance risks if this vulnerability is exploited.

Summary

CVE-2024-10957 is a deserialization vulnerability classified under CWE-502 affecting the UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin for WordPress, specifically versions from 1.23.8 through 1.24.11. The vulnerability exists in the 'recursive_unserialized_replace' function, which processes serialized PHP objects without proper validation or sanitization, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious PHP objects. However, the plugin itself lacks a gadget POP (Property Oriented Programming) chain necessary to exploit the injected object for malicious actions. Exploitation depends on the presence of another installed plugin or theme that contains a suitable POP chain, which can be leveraged to perform dangerous operations such as arbitrary file deletion, data exfiltration, or remote code execution. The attack vector requires no privileges but does require an administrator to initiate a search and replace operation, which triggers the deserialization process. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8, indicating high severity due to its network attack vector, lack of required privileges, and potential for full confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise. No public exploit code or active exploitation has been reported yet. The vulnerability highlights the risks of unsafe deserialization in WordPress plugins and the importance of secure coding practices and dependency management.

CWE-502Deserialization of Untrusted Data (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumCWE Top 25 (2025): #15OWASP Top 10 A08:2025: Software or Data Integrity Failures (opens in a new tab)
The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid.
Architecture and Design · Implementation
If available, use the signing/sealing features of the programming language to assure that deserialized data has not been tainted. For example, a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) could be used to ensure that data has not been modified.
Implementation
When deserializing data, populate a new object rather than just deserializing. The result is that the data flows through safe input validation and that the functions are safe.
Implementation
Explicitly define a final object() to prevent deserialization.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
Deserialization (opens in a new tab)
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
XML External Entity Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Software Supply Chain Security (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.5.2 (opens in a new tab)
V5.5.3 (opens in a new tab)
V5.5.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Object Injection (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Feb 2026, 08:12 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-502

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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