CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2026-8996 — Backup and Staging by WP Time Capsule security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 6.5

The Backup and Staging by WP Time Capsule plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 1.22.26 via the download_recent_decrypted_file_wptc. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to extract download the most recently admin-decrypted SQL database backup, which typically contains password hashes, user credentials, and other sensitive site configuration data stored in the 'recent_decrypted_file' option. Exploitation requires that an administrator has previously performed a decrypt action, causing the decrypted SQL backup file to exist in the plugin's upload directory; without this prior admin action, there is no file to serve.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
6.5 (3.1)
Published
2026-07-09
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
php/wordpress
Weaknesses
CWE-862

Affected products

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Matched remediation archetype

Authorization bypass, IDOR, and cross-tenant access

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Check exposure

  • Map object and action authorization checks across API, UI, batch, import/export, and background-job paths.
  • Identify tenant, ownership, role, and policy boundaries for affected resources and administrative operations.
  • Use synthetic fixtures to compare intended access matrices without accessing another user's real data.

Remediate safely

  • Enforce server-side authorization at each resource access and state transition using the authenticated principal and trusted tenant context.
  • Scope data queries by tenant and ownership; treat client-supplied identifiers, roles, and policy claims as untrusted.
  • Add deny-by-default policy tests for horizontal and vertical access across every affected transport.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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