{"id":2993010,"date":"2015-02-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wpallimport.com\/2015\/02\/wp-import-4-1-1-mandatory-security-update\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T07:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T07:36:18","slug":"wp-import-4-1-1-mandatory-security-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wpallimport.com\/wp-import-4-1-1-mandatory-security-update\/","title":{"rendered":"WP All Import 4.1.1 - Mandatory Security Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

WP All Import 4.1.1 is a mandatory security update. It patches a severe vulnerability in WP All Import. You should upgrade immediately.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A special thanks goes to James Golovich (http:\/\/pritect.net\/<\/a>) and Ibrahim Raafat (https:\/\/twitter.com\/RaafatSEC<\/a>) for reporting the vulnerability to us!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

At the time of this writing, we have not received any reports of sites hacked as a result of this vulnerability. To the best of our knowledge, this\u00a0vulnerability\u00a0has never been maliciously exploited in the wild.<\/p>\n

What could a hacker do with this vulnerability?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In simple terms, a sophisticated attacker could\u00a0completely takeover your WordPress installation by uploading and executing malicious PHP code on your server.<\/p>\n

In more technical terms, 4.1.1 patches a severe vulnerability related to AJAX request validation in admin_init that can be\u00a0exploited to run methods of the PMXI_Controller_Admin class even without being logged in as a site admin.<\/p>\n

Is this fixed in the free version of WP All Import?
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it's fixed in both the pro and free versions. It's fixed in pro version 4.1.1 and free version 3.2.4.<\/p>\n

How do I install the update?<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can easily install it by upgrading from the Plugins page of your WordPress admin panel.<\/p>\n

If you do not see the link to upgrade from within the WP admin panel, download and install the upgrade manually.<\/p>\n

To manually upgrade, first, ensure you have a current backup of\u00a0your site. Then:<\/em><\/p>\n

1. Go to the Plugins page of your WP admin panel and de-activate and delete WP All Import from your site.\u00a0You will not lose your settings\/templates\/previous imports.<\/p>\n

2. Download the latest version from either http:\/\/www.wpallimport.com\/portal<\/a> (pro) or http:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-all-import\/<\/a> (free).<\/p>\n

3. Install the plugin manually: Here's how - from WPBeginner.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I'm still using WP All Import 3.x (pro)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you don't want to upgrade, and\u00a0you've already done your imports with WP All Import and are no longer using it, just de-activate it.<\/strike> We patched the 3.4.x branch. If you're using 3.4.x e-mail support@wpallimport.com and we'll send you 3.4.4 which fixes the issue.<\/p>\n

How long have you known about this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On February 23rd at 3:36 PM Pacific Time the security researcher e-mailed our support desk and asked who he should contact about a security issue. We\u00a0responded with information, and the security researcher sent us a proof of concept.<\/p>\n

At 12:04 AM on February 24th we confirmed the exploit and sent the researcher\u00a0a $500 bounty.<\/p>\n

At 1:23 AM on February 26th we released versions 4.1.1 and 3.2.4 which patch the exploit.<\/p>\n

At 1:46 AM on February 26th we sent an e-mail to our customer list notifying them to upgrade.<\/p>\n

OK, I get that someone can execute any routine of PMXI_Controller_Admin - but how does that allow them to upload and execute PHP code?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In efforts to protect our customers, we're not going to actually disclose a proof of concept, although the security researcher may do so at a later date.<\/p>\n

WP All Import is a popular plugin, so now that we've released the patch, any hacker can run a diff on 4.1.0 and 4.1.1 and see what we changed. So it is likely that an exploit\u00a0for this vulnerability will eventually be made\u00a0public.<\/p>\n

Even if you've been proactive\u00a0and\u00a0disabled code execution in \/wp-content\/uploads\/ (a good idea in general) or are on a managed host that does that for you -\u00a0you should upgrade anyway.<\/p>\n

While you're safe from the remote code execution vulnerability, attackers\u00a0could\u00a0still execute any routine of PMXI_Controller_Admin, which would allow them to view the contents of import logs, text files, and more.<\/p>\n

What if my site was already hacked?\u00a0Should I be scared?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This vulnerability has existed in WP All Import for a very long time. We've never heard a single report of it being exploited maliciously.\u00a0It was brought to our attention by a security researcher, not a malicious hacker.<\/p>\n

I upgraded and now whenever I try to import I get a \"Security check\" error.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clear your browser cache.<\/p>\n

Any questions?<\/em>\u00a0E-mail us at support@wpallimport.com.<\/p>\n

Want to report a security issue?<\/em> Depending on the nature of the vulnerability, we'll potentially pay you a cash reward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WP All Import 4.1.1 is a mandatory security update. It patches a severe vulnerability in WP All Import. You should upgrade immediately. A special thanks goes to James Golovich (http:\/\/pritect.net\/) and Ibrahim Raafat (https:\/\/twitter.com\/RaafatSEC) for reporting the vulnerability to us! At the time of this writing, we have not received any reports of sites hacked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7778,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","inline_featured_image":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"content_author":[213],"cta":[],"class_list":["post-2993010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tutorials","content_author-editorial-staff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWP All Import 4.1.1 - Mandatory Security Update - WP All Import<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wpallimport.com\/wp-import-4-1-1-mandatory-security-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WP All Import 4.1.1 - Mandatory Security Update - WP All Import\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WP All Import 4.1.1 is a mandatory security update. 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