CVE-2026-115251: Duplicator privilege escalation vulnerability
high 7.2 published 2026-10-25 · updated 2026-10-26
- Affected versions
- 1.5.17 up to (not including) 5.0.0
- Fixed in
- 5.0.0
- Latest version
- 5.1.0
- Severity
- High · CVSS 7.2
- Active installs
- 1+ million
- Type
- Privilege escalation
What an attacker needs
- Access: An admin-level account (per the CVSS score).
CVSS vector (score by CISA ADP): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
What to do now
- Update Duplicator to 5.0.0 or newer (the latest is 5.1.0): Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known Duplicator issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get duplicator --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The Duplicator WordPress plugin before 5.0.0 does not restrict its one-click upgrade routine to users allowed to install Duplicator WordPress plugin before 5.0.0, and additionally exposes the routine without authentication, allowing an administrator of a multisite child site who is not a network administrator to install and run arbitrary PHP in the network-wide shared Duplicator WordPress plugin before 5.0.0 directory.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-115251 nvd.nist.gov
- WPScan advisory wpscan.com
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
The free scan reads the public side of your site and looks for spam pages, hidden redirects, injected scripts and blacklist entries. No login, no install, about a minute.
Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-01.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.