A critical vulnerability in the Backup Migration WordPress plugin, installed on over 90,000 websites, has been discovered, posing a significant security threat. Tracked as CVE-2023-6553 with a severity score of 9.8/10, the flaw enables attackers to execute remote code, potentially leading to full compromise of vulnerable sites. Discovered by the Nex Team and reported to Wordfence, the security firm behind WordPress, the vulnerability affects all plugin versions up to Backup Migration 1.3.6. Despite the developers swiftly releasing a patch (version 1.3.8), statistics show that nearly 50,000 WordPress sites are still using the vulnerable version, emphasizing the urgency for administrators to update their installations promptly.
The vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to gain remote code execution by exploiting PHP code injection through the /includes/backup-heart.php file. Attackers can manipulate values passed to an include, potentially executing arbitrary commands on the server. The flaw makes it possible for threat actors to execute code on the server without the need for user interaction. Wordfence reported the issue to BackupBliss, the plugin’s development team, and a patch was released within hours. However, the slow adoption of the patched version by website administrators highlights the ongoing risk to vulnerable sites.
While the developers addressed the critical flaw promptly, download statistics from WordPress.org indicate that a considerable number of websites are still running versions susceptible to the CVE-2023-6553 exploit. Administrators are strongly advised to update their Backup Migration plugin to the patched version (1.3.8) to mitigate the risk of potential remote code execution attacks. This incident highlights the ongoing challenge of timely updates and patches in the WordPress ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of vigilance and proactive security measures by website administrators to protect against evolving cyber threats and vulnerabilities.
