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 `$wpdb->insert()` directly to the `wp_postmeta` table instead of WordPress's standard `add_post_meta()` function, which would call `is_protected_meta()` to prevent lower-privileged users from setting protected meta keys (those starting with `_`). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary protected post meta keys such as `_wp_page_template`, `_wp_attached_file`, and other sensitive meta keys on duplicated posts via the `customMetaData` JSON array parameter in the `/wp-json/post-duplicator/v1/duplicate-post` REST API endpoint.
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Affected Vendors & Products
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Fixes
Solution
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Workaround
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References
History
Wed, 25 Feb 2026 09:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | The Post Duplicator plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary protected post meta insertion in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.8. This is due to the `duplicate_post()` function in `includes/api.php` using `$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. | |
| Title | Post Duplicator <= 3.0.8 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Contributor+) Protected Post Meta Insertion via 'customMetaData' Parameter | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-862 | |
| References |
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| Metrics |
cvssV3_1
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: Wordfence
Published:
Updated: 2026-02-25T09:26:51.333Z
Reserved: 2026-02-10T18:17:31.628Z
Link: CVE-2026-2301
No data.
Status : Awaiting Analysis
Published: 2026-02-25T10:16:18.307
Modified: 2026-02-25T14:15:29.980
Link: CVE-2026-2301
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses