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VulnerabilityPublished

CVE-2026-13457: InstaWP Connect (WordPress plugin) · Unrestricted File Upload

Affects InstaWP Connect (WordPress plugin)Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 23:24 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.5High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 58% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 11 Aug 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 10 Nov 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
instawpInstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & MigrationAffected
  • <=0.1.3.6
Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Until a fix is available, administrators should disable directory listing (Options -Indexes) on Apache servers for the wp-content/instawpbackups/ directory or restrict access to this directory to prevent exposure of the migrate_key and encrypted options file.

Description

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.

References

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