CVE-2026-2301

Post Duplicator <= 3.0.8 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Contributor+) Protected Post Meta Insertion via 'customMetaData' Parameter

mediumMissing Authorization
4.3
CVSS Score
4.3
CVSS Score
medium
Severity
3.0.9
Patched in
1d
Time to patch

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.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
None
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability

Technical Details

Affected versions<=3.0.8
PublishedFebruary 24, 2026
Last updatedFebruary 25, 2026
Affected pluginpost-duplicator

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