CVE-2026-2301
The Post Duplicator plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary protected post meta insertion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8. This is due to the `duplicate_post()` function in `includes/api.php` using `$wpdb->insert()` directly to the `wp_postmeta` table instead of WordPress's standard `add_post_meta()` function, which would call `is_protected_meta()` to prevent lower-privileged users from setting protected meta keys (those starting with `_`). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary protected post meta keys such as `_wp_page_template`, `_wp_attached_file`, and other sensitive meta keys on duplicated posts via the `customMetaData` JSON array parameter in the `/wp-json/post-duplicator/v1/duplicate-post` REST API endpoint.
EPSS 0.04% · 12.3th percentile
Risk Scores
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| metaphorcreations | Post Duplicator | *, *, 0 |
Exploit Intelligence
- CIRCL seen: CVE-2026-2301 (circl-sighting)
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e5c86f72-934c-4f3b-ab2a-65df1490ca8a?source=cve (circl)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L923 (circl)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L843 (circl)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=3463768%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk&old=3459096%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail= (circl)
- mock-data.ts (github-poc)
- mock-data.ts (github-poc)
- mock-data.ts (github-poc)
- mock-data.ts (github-poc)
Timeline
- Feb 10, 2026 CVE ID Reserved
- Feb 25, 2026 EPSS Score
- Feb 25, 2026 CVE Published
- Feb 25, 2026 PoC Published
- Feb 27, 2026 EPSS Score
- Feb 28, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 2, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 3, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 5, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 6, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 8, 2026 EPSS Score
- Mar 9, 2026 EPSS Score
References
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e5c86f72-934c-4f3b-ab2a-65df1490ca8a?source=cve url
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L923 url
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/tags/3.0.6/includes/api.php#L843 url
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&new=3463768%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk&old=3459096%40post-duplicator%2Ftrunk&sfp_email=&sfph_mail= url
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-2301 advisory