wp2shell-PoC

⚠ This tool is created solely for educational or bug bounty purpose only. Unauthorized use outside of controlled environments is strictly prohibited.

Overview

Proof-of-concept for the wp2shell vulnerability chain affecting WordPress Core, combining CVE-2026-63030 and CVE-2026-60137. The project demonstrates the interaction between the REST API Batch route confusion vulnerability and a WP_Query SQL injection, resulting in an unauthenticated path to full WordPress compromise and remote code execution (RCE).

Read the full advisory here

How it works

wp2shell is a pre-authentication RCE chain in WordPress core, combining CVE-2026-63030 (route confusion in the batch REST endpoint) and CVE-2026-60137 (SQL injection in WP_Query).

The route confusion: /wp-json/batch/v1 processes multiple sub-requests via parallel $matches and $validation arrays indexed by position. A sub-request with a malformed path (e.g., http://:) is appended to $validation but not $matches due to a continue statement, desynchronizing the arrays. Later requests are dispatched under the handler meant for the next request, bypassing schema validation and permission checks.

The SQL injection: Two nested batch calls exploit this. The outer batch bypasses the method allow-list (normally blocking GET). The inner batch delivers a scalar author_exclude string to GET /wp/v2/posts - the desync routes it past validation, and WP_Query interpolates the unsanitized string directly into SQL, yielding a UNION-based blind injection.

Cache poisoning: The SQLi returns forged WP_Post objects, which WordPress caches in-memory. These fake posts contain [embed] shortcodes that cause WordPress to create real oembed_cache database rows from the fake references.

Changeset escalation: Using the SQLi, the attacker forges a customize_changeset post in-memory with "user_id": 1 in its JSON. A cycle-detection gadget triggers wp_update_post() without overwriting post_content, preserving the attacker's payload. Applying the changeset temporarily assumes the administrator's identity.

Hook re-entry: A fabricated post with status parse and type request fires the parse_request hook, replaying the entire batch request with the assumed admin role. This time, a POST /wp/v2/users sub-request succeeds, creating a new admin account.

Code execution: The attacker logs in as the created admin and uploads a malicious plugin to run arbitrary commands.

Affected versions

Usage

To use this PoC, the only requirement is Python 3.8+.

Run it from the repository directory to perform a vulnerability check:

wp2shell.py http://victim.com

Check Mode (default)

Performs a single vulnerability check. Sends a benign batch marker probe that detects the route confusion bug without executing SQLi payloads. A vulnerable target returns HTTP 207 with the error pattern parse_path_failed, block_cannot_read, and rest_batch_not_allowed.

Use --confirm-sqli to also send an active SQLi confirmation payload. The confirmation tries UNION reflection first, then falls back to timing-based probes.

Check single target (default mode)

wp2shell.py http://target.com

Check with explicit mode

Check with explicit mode
wp2shell.py http://target.com --check

Check with SQLi confirmation

wp2shell.py http://target.com --check --confirm-sqli

Read Mode - Extract Data Through SQL Injection

Extracts data from the database using the pre-authentication SQL injection. By default uses --technique auto, which tries available methods in this order:

• union - forges a fake WP_Post row via UNION and reads its title back from the REST response as ||HEX(value)||. One request per value. Fastest.
• error - uses EXTRACTVALUE/UPDATEXML to leak ~15 bytes per request. Works when the target reflects MySQL errors (e.g., WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY on).
• blind - boolean binary search, ~8 requests per character. Reads the X-WP-Total header as the true/false signal. Works even when no data is reflected.

Force a specific technique with --technique union|error|blind. These read paths are read-only and do not write to the database.

Server fingerprint (default query)

wp2shell.py http://target.com --read

Dump logins and password hashes

wp2shell.py http://target.com --read --preset users

Custom SQL query

wp2shell.py http://target.com --read --query "SELECT @@version"

Force blind technique

wp2shell.py http://target.com --read --technique blind --query "SELECT user_login FROM wp_users LIMIT 1"

Extract with error-based technique

wp2shell.py http://target.com --read --technique error --query "SELECT user_pass FROM wp_users LIMIT 1"

Shell Mode

Executes commands on the target server. Works in two modes:

With credentials (logs in as existing admin and uploads plugin shell):

Execute specific command

wp2shell.py http://target.com --shell --user admin --password '<recovered>' --cmd id

Interactive shell

wp2shell.py http://target.com --shell --user admin --password '<recovered>' --interactive
Without credentials (pre-auth RCE - runs the full SQLi→admin bridge, logs in as generated admin, then uploads plugin shell):

Execute single command

wp2shell.py http://target.com --shell --cmd id

Interactive shell

wp2shell.py http://target.com --shell --interactive

The plugin webshell is uploaded with a random path and a per-run token. The uploaded webshell is removed automatically. When the pre-auth bridge creates an administrator, that generated account is removed automatically after the shell session finishes.

All flags list:

References:

1. https://slcyber.io/research-center/exploit-brokers-pay-500000-for-a-wordpress-rce-i-found-one-with-gpt5-6/
2. https://www.picussecurity.com/resource/blog/cve-2026-63030-and-cve-2026-60137-wp2shell-wordpress-rce-explained

Disclaimer

This tool is created solely for educational or bug bounty purpose only. Unauthorized use outside of controlled environments is strictly prohibited.