Description
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| wp-cli | wp-cli | < 2.5.0 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | wp-cli | 2.5.0-1.2 | openSUSE-SU-2024:11514-1 |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Packagist | wp-cli/wp-cli | >= 0.12.0, < 2.5.0 | 2.5.0 | GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2024:11514-1 wp-cli-2.5.0-1.2 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/security/advisories/GHSA-rwgm-f83r-v3qj
- https://github.com/wp-cli/checksum-command/pull/86
- https://github.com/wp-cli/config-command/pull/128
- https://github.com/wp-cli/core-command/pull/186
- https://github.com/wp-cli/extension-command/pull/287
- https://github.com/wp-cli/package-command/pull/138
- https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/5523