Improper Certificate Validation in WP-CLI framework
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Spoofing
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-295.
Summary
WP-CLI is the command-line interface for WordPress. An improper error handling in HTTPS requests management in WP-CLI version 0.12.0 and later allows remote attackers able to intercept the communication to remotely disable the certificate verification on WP-CLI side, gaining full control over the communication content, including the ability to impersonate update servers and push malicious updates towards WordPress instances controlled by the vulnerable WP-CLI agent, or push malicious updates toward WP-CLI itself. The vulnerability stems from the fact that the default behavior of `WP_CLI\Utils\http_request()` when encountering a TLS handshake error is to disable certificate validation and retry the same request. The default behavior has been changed with version 2.5.0 of WP-CLI and the `wp-cli/wp-cli` framework (via https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523) so that the `WP_CLI\Utils\http_request()` method accepts an `$insecure` option that is `false` by default and consequently that a TLS handshake failure is a hard error by default. This new default is a breaking change and ripples through to all consumers of `WP_CLI\Utils\http_request()`, including those in separate WP-CLI bundled or third-party packages. https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523 has also added an `--insecure` flag to the `cli update` command to counter this breaking change. There is no direct workaround for the default insecure behavior of `wp-cli/wp-cli` versions before 2.5.0. The workaround for dealing with the breaking change in the commands directly affected by the new secure default behavior is to add the `--insecure` flag to manually opt-in to the previous insecure behavior.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wp-cli | wp-cli | before 2.5.0 | 2.5.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | wp-cli/wp-cli (Packagist) | 0.12.0 to before 2.5.0 | 2.5.0 | Patch available | GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj |
- wp-cli Vendorwp-cli Affected before 2.5.0 Fixed in 2.5.0 Patch available CNA
- wp-cli/wp-cli (Packagist) Vendor— Affected 0.12.0 to before 2.5.0 Fixed in 2.5.0 Patch available GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj
Remediation
- Fix · CNA wp-cli (wp-cli) Fixed in 2.5.0
- Fix · GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj wp-cli/wp-cli (Packagist) Fixed in 2.5.0 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-29504
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj
References
Patch 5
Advisory 3
Sources
- CVE-2021-29504 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-29504 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-29504 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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