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.
CVE-2026-8996
MEDIUMPre-NVD 6.56.5—Trending — 4 sources updated this week
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence
Score 6.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-07-09. a secondary CVSS source baseline 6.5; sources differ by 0.0.
Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, secondary
6.5
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 0%CVSS: 6.5Exploit: NoneExposed: 0
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 6.5
- EG Score
- 6.5(high)
- EPSS
- 18.7%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
July 9, 2026
Last Modified
July 9, 2026
References (8)
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/tags/1.22.26/Views/wptc-download-file.php#L23
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/tags/1.22.26/wp-time-capsule.php#L3764
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/tags/1.22.26/wp-time-capsule.php#L410
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/trunk/Views/wptc-download-file.php#L23
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/trunk/wp-time-capsule.php#L3764
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-time-capsule/trunk/wp-time-capsule.php#L410
- security@wordfencehttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3563585%40wp-time-capsule&new=3563585%40wp-time-capsule
- security@wordfencehttps://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f7c39d66-f1e1-4d41-a9e4-984aec3f37dc?source=cve
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-8996(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 23× in last 7d / 23× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-15 22:50 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-15 22:50 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-15 16:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 02:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 00:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-15 00:09 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-14 01:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-14 01:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-13 22:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 02:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-13 02:47 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-12 05:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 04:06 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-12 04:06 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-11 08:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 05:25 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-11 05:25 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-10 06:44 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-10 06:44 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-09 19:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 08:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-09 08:01 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2026-8996?
CVE-2026-8996 is a medium vulnerability published on July 9, 2026. 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 downloadrecentdecryptedfilewptc. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to…
When was CVE-2026-8996 disclosed?
CVE-2026-8996 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 9, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2026-8996 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-8996 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 18.7% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-8996?
CVE-2026-8996 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-8996?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-8996, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-8996
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-8996?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.