- Exploited
- No known exploitation
- Fix
- Fixed in 5.2.4
- Who is exposed
- Not reported
Do first: Upgrade to a fixed version: 5.2.4.
- Last modified
- Whether it needs action now or is a reference record, by fixed rules, with why. Last checked is when cve.now last re-read it.What do these mean? →
- Reference
- Last checked
- FIRST's estimate of the chance attackers exploit it in the next 30 days, updated daily.What do these mean? →
- 0.14% · 3rd percentile
- A 0-100 score for how much a CVE matters across the industry: exploitation, exposure, how widely the software is used, severity and whether a fix exists.What do these mean? →
- 0/100 · provisional
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
Summary
The Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin, a WordPress plugin, shipped with a hidden update mechanism that pulled updates from the author's own server instead of WordPress.org, so a party controlling that server could push a backdoored build. The attacker could then inject arbitrary content into pages and deliver arbitrary code to affected sites.
Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.
Original description
The Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 was distributed with a hidden update mechanism that fetched Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 updates from its author's own server instead of WordPress.org, which was used to push a backdoored build to sites, allowing the attacker controlling that server to inject arbitrary content into pages and to deliver arbitrary code to affected sites.
Version 5.2.1, as published on WordPress.org, bundled the Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 Update Checker library (updater/ directory) configured to poll https://anadnet.com/updates/?action=get_metadata&slug=quick-pagepost-redirect-Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4. In March 2021 that server delivered a modified 5.2.3 build, different from the 5.2.3 later published on WordPress.org, which kept the update channel and added a the_content filter that, for logged-out visitors on single posts and pages, fetched content from https://w.anadnet.com/bro/3/ (passing the site host, request URI and visitor User-Agent) and prepended the response to the post (observed serving SEO spam links to search engine crawlers). Because the version string matched a later WordPress.org release, affected sites were not offered a clean update until 5.2.4.
Indicators of compromise:
- Outbound requests to anadnet.com or w.anadnet.com
- An updater/ directory (Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 Update Checker, Puc v4p10) inside wp-content/Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4/quick-pagepost-redirect-Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4/
- The strings filter_the_content_in_the_main_loop, ppr_pro, QQQEND or w.anadnet.com in page_post_redirect_Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4.php
- page_post_redirect_Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4.php with MD5 ad717da18cf8a2b69899c0d7dafee05a (tampered 5.2.3)
Remediation: remove the Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 (it has been closed on WordPress.org), or at minimum reinstall the clean 5.2.4 from WordPress.org, delete any leftover updater/ directory, verify the files with "wp Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4 verify-checksums quick-pagepost-redirect-Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.2.4", clear the opcode cache, and treat any site that ran the tampered build as potentially compromised.
cve.now Index
- Exploitation?/40Unknown. No CISA SSVC exploitation rating yet
- Exposure?/25Unknown. No advisory context yet
- Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
- Severity?/10Unknown. No CVSS score or vendor rating
- No patch0/5No signal
What would change the score
- Would score about 55 if added to CISA KEV
- Would score about 50 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
- Would score about 22 if advisories confirm default setups are exposed
What to do
Upgrade to a fixed version: 5.2.4.
Check your systems with an agent
Paste this into a coding or ops agent. It checks your systems read-only and reports a table per asset.
Check whether my systems are affected by CVE-2026-126697 (Quick Page/Post Redirect 5.2.1 - 5.2.3 - Backdoor via Off-Repository Update Channel), using the cve.now data below.
Rules: work read-only. Do not run exploit code, proof-of-concept scripts or scanners that send attack payloads, and do not change any configuration, package, image or deployment. Report findings only.
What cve.now has for CVE-2026-126697 (entry last updated 2026-11-14):
Affected:
- Unknown Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin: from 5.2.1, fixed in 5.2.4
Fixed versions: 5.2.4.
Setup: unknown whether the bug needs a non-default feature or setting. Check the advisory.
CISA KEV: CVE-2026-126697 is not listed as of cve.now's last read.
This KEV status is for CVE-2026-126697 only. If you also check another CVE, look up its own KEV status; never assume it from this one.
How to check:
- Installed software: check what is actually running, not what a repo declares. Read the version from each host, container image and Kubernetes node (the binary's version output, the OS package database, image layers), and check whether the conditions above hold there. Distribution packages may carry a backported fix under an older version number; confirm against the distribution's own advisory.
Verify against the linked advisories before concluding, and cite the date you read each one:
- the references on https://cve.now/CVE-2026-126697
Do not conclude an asset is unaffected unless you checked it and the evidence covers both its version and the conditions above. If you could not check something, mark it unknown and say what is missing.
Report a table with one row per asset and these columns: Asset | Version or build | Status (affected, fixed, not applicable, unknown) | Compensating controls | Exposure (internet-facing, internal, none) | Evidence | Next action.
Entry: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-126697
For follow-up questions, use the cve.now MCP server at https://mcp.cve.now/mcp (no authentication), for example execute with name cve.get and arguments {"id": "CVE-2026-126697"}.Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
Affected versions
- Unknown Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin
From 5.2.1 · fixed in 5.2.4
Evidence 3
CVE record · 2
Establishes: The identifier and description.
- Record
- Record
Public exploit code · 1
Establishes: Public exploit code exists (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei and GitHub).
- Exploit
Corrections
None so far.
Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.
Questions about CVE-2026-126697
Is CVE-2026-126697 being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-126697?
Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin: from 5.2.1 before 5.2.4.Source: cve.now feed data
How do I fix CVE-2026-126697?
Upgrade to a fixed version: 5.2.4.Source: cve.now feed data