# CVE-2026-4244: WordPress Post Duplicator privilege escalation in REST endpoint

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-4244-wordpress-post-duplicator-privilege-escalation-in-rest-endpoint  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-08-22. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-4244 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4.3 · Published 2026-08-22

Post Duplicator is a WordPress plugin that allows users to create copies of existing posts. Due to a missing security check, authenticated users with basic contributor-level access can exploit the plugin's REST API to create duplicate posts attributed to any user, including administrators. This could allow an attacker to impersonate higher-privileged accounts or inject malicious content under an admin's name.

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-4244 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-4244 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-4244?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4.3, published 22 August 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Post Duplicator Post Duplicator up to and including 3.0.11.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-4244?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-4244 attacked?** It is attacked over the network.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-4244?** Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability is a privilege escalation flaw stemming from an insufficient capability check in the `duplicate_post()` function exposed via the `duplicate-post` REST endpoint. The function fails to verify that the caller possesses the `edit_others_posts` capability before accepting the `selectedAuthorId` parameter, allowing authenticated attackers with Contributor-level privileges (or above) to forge post authorship. The attack requires authentication to the WordPress instance; no network-level bypass is required. Exploitation enables attackers to create posts attributed to arbitrary users, including administrators, potentially facilitating social engineering, content manipulation, or account impersonation. A fix that validates the required capability before processing the author ID parameter should be available in a patched version.

## Affected products

- Post Duplicator Post Duplicator up to and including 3.0.11

## Timeline

- 2026-08-22: disclosed

## References

- [https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/trunk/includes/api.php](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/trunk/includes/api.php)
- [https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/trunk/includes/api.php](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/post-duplicator/trunk/includes/api.php)