Layouts for WPBakery <= 1.1.3 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Template Cache Manipulation via 'handle_sync' AJAX Action
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.1.4
- Affected Plugin
- Layouts for WPBakery
- Affected Version
<= 1.1.3- CVSS
- 6.5Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2026-7726
At a glance
CVE-2026-7726 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Layouts for WPBakery WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.1.3. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.1.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by murd0ck.
Vulnerability Overview
The Layouts for WPBakery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized actions due to a missing capability check on the `Layouts_WPB_Remote::template_sync()` callback registered via `wp_ajax_nopriv_handle_sync` in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.3. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to force the WordPress server to issue outbound HTTP requests to the plugin vendor's external API (`https://www.layoutsforwpbakery.com/wp-json/layoutsforwpbakery/v1/{templates,categories}`) and to write the JSON-decoded responses verbatim into the site's `wp_options` table via `set_transient()` — at any rate the attacker chooses, with no nonce verification, capability check, or rate limiting.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.
CWE-862: Missing Authorization
Layouts for WPBakery <= 1.1.3 carries this weakness at template_sync(), and reaching it takes no account at all. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.
Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Layouts for WPBakery the fix is 1.1.4: builds <= 1.1.3 are affected, anything from 1.1.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.1.4, or a newer patched version
How WordSec helps
This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Layouts for WPBakery 1.1.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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