Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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ReconRegister/obtain subscriber account
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DeliveryInject SQL payload into Biographical Info
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ExploitAdmin backup exports value into SQL dump
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InstallAdmin restore executes injected INSERT breakout
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C2Set default_role to administrator, enable registration
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ExecuteRegister new account auto-granted admin
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ImpactFull site takeover
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A05:2025 - Injection
ASVS 5.0
V1 - Encoding and Sanitization Parameterized queries, prepared statements
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Persistence The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires: (1) an authenticated account with subscriber-level access or above whose profile Biographical Info field accepts the crafted payload; (2) WordPress profiles storing a biographical description (default behavior); and critically (3) an Administrator subsequently creating a backup that captures the attacker's wp_usermeta value AND then performing a restore of that backup via Backuply - the injection only fires inside the INSERT during the restore operation. Limiting factors: exploitation is second-order and cannot be self-triggered by the attacker (UI:R - depends on an admin restore action that may never occur or may occur long after payload planting); it requires valid authentication (PR:L, no anonymous path); and it is a blind write primitive with no response returned, so it is used to modify records (e.g., default_role in wp_options) rather than directly exfiltrate data. |
| Impact | This is a genuine high-priority issue tempered by meaningful preconditions. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, base 8.0) indicates network-reachable exploitation by a low-privileged (PR:L) authenticated user, but with required user interaction (UI:R) - here the interaction is an Administrator performing a backup restore, which is a significant real-world dependency, not a trivial click. The impact triple (C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects the end state of full site takeover via privilege escalation, even though the injection primitive itself only writes/modifies DB records. No EPSS score, SSVC decision, KEV listing, or POC indicator was provided in the input, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified from the data; per precision rules this is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' The key tension is that successful attack is gated on an Administrator restoring an attacker-poisoned backup - a second-order chain that limits opportunistic mass exploitation and makes this more plausible in targeted scenarios (e.g., shared-hosting, agencies managing many sites, or supply-chain backup handling) than in broad automated campaigns. Net: real and serious where the restore workflow is used, but the UI:R/second-order dependency keeps it below the urgency of a directly remote-unauthenticated SQLi. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A subscriber-level user sets a crafted SQL payload in their WordPress profile's Biographical Info field. Later, an Administrator creates a backup (which exports that value verbatim into an INSERT into wp_usermeta) and then restores it; during restore the payload breaks out of the INSERT and runs attacker-controlled SQL with full DB privileges, flipping the default_role option to administrator and enabling open registration. No public POC is identified in the provided data; the low attack complexity means payload crafting is straightforward, but exploitation hinges on the admin-triggered restore. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 16, 2026
Privilege escalation to full WordPress site takeover is possible in the Backuply backup/restore plugin (all versions up to and including 1.5.8) via a second-order SQL injection that an authenticated subscriber-level user plants in the profile Biographical Info field and that only fires when an administrator later creates a backup capturing that value and then restores it. During the restore the injected SQL executes blind inside an INSERT into wp_usermeta, allowing the attacker to alter database records - most notably to set the default_role option in wp_options to administrator and enable open registration, so a subsequently registered account is granted Administrator rights. Exploitation cannot be self-triggered by the attacker (UI:R) and requires a valid authenticated account (PR:L, no anonymous path); no public exploit identified at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Apply the upstream fix by updating Backuply to a release that contains the changeset at https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3723257/backuply; the vendor-released patched version number is not independently confirmed in the available data, so verify the plugin changelog or the Wordfence advisory before assuming a specific version number is safe. Until a confirmed patched release is installed, compensating controls are required because the injection only fires when an administrator performs a restore: restrict Backuply's restore capability to fully trusted administrators, and avoid restoring backups whose wp_usermeta records contain content that was created or edited by lower-privileged users - the trade-off is reduced operational flexibility for legitimate backup/restore workflows. Additionally, reduce the attack surface by preventing subscriber-level and other untrusted roles from editing the Biographical Info profile field (for example, by removing or filtering the edit_user capability for those roles), accepting that this degrades normal profile functionality for low-privileged accounts. Where backup and restore are not actively needed, temporarily deactivating Backuply eliminates the exposure entirely, at the cost of losing automated backups. Finally, monitor wp_options for unexpected changes to default_role and users_can_register, and audit for newly created accounts with Administrator rights, so that any successful escalation is detected quickly even if the preconditions for exploitation are met.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The flaw is a classic CWE-89 SQL injection with a second-order, blind-write character. Backuply's backup routine (backup_ins.php, lines 140 and 592) exports user meta values verbatim - including the Biographical Info field from wp_usermeta - into an INSERT statement inside the generated SQL dump. Because that value is neither escaped nor passed through a prepared statement, an attacker who controls their own biography can embed SQL syntax that remains dormant until the dump is replayed. When an administrator restores that backup, Backuply's restore logic (restore_ins.php, lines 2247 and 2255) assembles and executes the INSERT without adequate parameterization or preparation, and the payload breaks out of the INSERT, appending attacker-controlled SQL that runs with full database privileges. No response is returned to the attacker from the injection, so the primitive is a write-only one: it is used to modify records such as the default_role option in wp_options and the registration setting, rather than to directly read existing data. The root cause is insufficient escaping of the user-supplied biography parameter combined with the absence of a prepared statement on the restore-time query, which translates a stored-but-innocuous profile value into executable SQL at restore time.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Low-priv authenticated user (PR:L) injects over network (AV:N) with simple payload (AC:L) but needs an admin restore (UI:R); resulting admin takeover yields full C/I/A, scope unchanged.
Primary rating from Vendor (Wordfence).
CVSS VectorVendor: Wordfence
DescriptionCVE.org
The Backuply - Backup, Restore, Migrate and Clone plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection via the Biographical Info field (second-order, via restore) in all versions up to, and including, 1.5.8 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and the lack of sufficient preparation on an existing SQL query. Backuply exports the Biographical Info value verbatim inside an INSERT statement written to the backup's SQL dump (wp_usermeta). When an Administrator later restores such a backup, the crafted payload breaks out of that INSERT statement and appends attacker-controlled SQL that executes with full database privileges. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to write arbitrary data to the database - in particular to update the default_role option in wp_options to administrator (and enable open user registration) - so that a subsequently registered account is automatically granted the Administrator role, resulting in privilege escalation and full site takeover. Because the injection executes inside an INSERT during restore with no response returned to the attacker, the primitive is used to modify database records rather than to read existing data directly.
Executive ViewAI
WordPress sites using the Backuply plugin versions up to and including 1.5.8 face a privilege-escalation flaw that can lead to full site takeover. The issue requires an authenticated low-privileged user to plant data and an administrator to later perform a backup and restore, so sites with open registration or untrusted subscriber accounts are most exposed; no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Because no vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis, leadership should act to identify affected sites and apply interim controls to prevent unauthorized administrative access, data exposure, and reputational harm.
Deactivate or remove Backuply until a vendor patch is available; restrict subscriber registration and audit existing low-privileged accounts; limit backup and restore actions to trusted administrators; monitor wp_options for default_role changes and wp_usermeta for unexpected entries; deploy WAF rules to detect SQL injection in profile and backup/restore traffic; and validate backup integrity before restoring.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
SQL injection exploits the way applications construct database queries by mixing user input directly into SQL statements.
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
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EUVD-2026-102613
GHSA-p347-j652-996x
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB