CVE-2026-120551: Medium severity vulnerability
The WP Compress – Instant Performance & Speed Optimization plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 7.22.01. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to link the victim site to an attacker-controlled WP Compress account, overwrite plugin settings to an aggressive live-CDN preset, and gain the shared apikey that authenticates all nopriv HMAC-gated endpoints — enabling full control over cache purging, file deletion, opcode cache invalidation, and other privileged plugin operations. This vulnerability only affects fresh installations or lite/free-mode installs where no apikey is already stored, as the sole guard fails open when the stored key is absent.
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Which WordPress sites are affected?
Only fresh installations and lite/free-mode installations with no stored WP Compress api_key are affected. Installations that already have an api_key stored are not affected by this specific fail-open condition.
What does an attacker need to exploit this issue?
The attacker does not need authentication or user interaction. They can exploit the issue remotely when the plugin has no stored api_key.
What can an attacker do after exploitation?
An attacker can link the site to an attacker-controlled WP Compress account, replace settings with an aggressive live-CDN preset, and obtain the shared api_key. That key can enable privileged plugin actions including cache purging, file deletion, and opcode-cache invalidation.