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Never use an http XML-RPC endpoint for https sites - #25869

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crazytonyli merged 4 commits into
release/27.2from
fix/xmlrpc-https-downgrade
Aug 19, 2026
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Never use an http XML-RPC endpoint for https sites#25869
crazytonyli merged 4 commits into
release/27.2from
fix/xmlrpc-https-downgrade

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Note

The issue (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g) would only occur if https XML-RPC request fails but http XML-RPC request succeeds. It's probably not very likely. But I think it's still good to patch it.

Description

When a self-hosted site was added with an https:// address, the app could silently fall back to an http:// XML-RPC endpoint and persist it, so the username and application password were then sent in plaintext on every XML-RPC call.

  1. WordPressOrgXMLRPCValidator no longer resolves an http:// endpoint for an https:// site: it stops probing an http variant of the host, and rejects any endpoint that discovery resolves to unless it is also https. This prevents new downgraded endpoints.

  2. For records already downgraded by older versions, Blog.xmlrpcURL returns the https-upgraded endpoint for an https site, and every XML-RPC client is now built from it (Blog.xmlrpcApi, the Zendesk profile fetch, and the site settings credential check). The persisted xmlrpc value and the Keychain entry keyed by it are left untouched, so credential lookups is not affected.

@crazytonyli crazytonyli added this to the 27.2 milestone Aug 5, 2026
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crazytonyli requested a review from jkmassel August 5, 2026 07:36
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App Icon📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in WordPress by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.
App NameWordPress
ConfigurationRelease-Alpha
Build Number33842
VersionPR #25869
Bundle IDorg.wordpress.alpha
Commit1e63589
Installation URL5gc4k0cvotahg
Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to those builds if needed.

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App Icon📲 You can test the changes from this Pull Request in Jetpack by scanning the QR code below to install the corresponding build.
App NameJetpack
ConfigurationRelease-Alpha
Build Number33842
VersionPR #25869
Bundle IDcom.jetpack.alpha
Commit1e63589
Installation URL4p6kg574fgn2g
Automatticians: You can use our internal self-serve MC tool to give yourself access to those builds if needed.

When the entered site address is https, WordPressOrgXMLRPCValidator no
longer probes an http variant of the same host, and any endpoint that
discovery resolves to (via redirects or RSD links) is rejected unless it
is also https. Previously the username and application password were
sent to the http endpoint whenever the https xmlrpc.php probe failed,
and the plaintext endpoint was persisted (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g).
Older app versions could silently downgrade a site's discovered XML-RPC
endpoint to http and persist it, so later XML-RPC traffic and the
credentials it carries crossed plaintext (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g). Blog.xmlrpcURL
returns the https-upgraded endpoint for an https site, and every credential
bearing XML-RPC client is now built from it (Blog.xmlrpcApi, the Zendesk
profile fetch, and the site settings credential check) instead of the raw
stored value. The persisted xmlrpc and the Keychain keyed by it are left
unchanged, so credential lookups still resolve; only the request endpoint is
upgraded, at the point the client is constructed. This closes the downgrade
regardless of launch timing or store restoration, with no migration pass.
@crazytonyli
crazytonyli force-pushed the fix/xmlrpc-https-downgrade branch from 8cf3c89 to edd751d Compare August 11, 2026 05:08
@wpmobilebot wpmobilebot modified the milestones: 27.2, 27.3 Aug 19, 2026
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Version 27.2 has now entered code-freeze, so the milestone of this PR has been updated to 27.3.

@crazytonyli
crazytonyli changed the base branch from trunk to release/27.2 August 19, 2026 10:23
@crazytonyli crazytonyli modified the milestones: 27.3, 27.2 ❄️ Aug 19, 2026
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1 Warning
⚠️ This PR is assigned to the milestone 27.2 ❄️. The due date for this milestone has already passed.
Please assign it to a milestone with a later deadline or check whether the release for this milestone has already been finished.
1 Message
📖 This PR contains changes to RELEASE-NOTES.txt.
Note that these changes won't affect the final version of the release notes as this version is in code freeze.
Please, get in touch with a release manager if you want to update the final release notes.

Generated by 🚫 Danger

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This looks good, but I've opened #25914 which solves a similar issue

@crazytonyli
crazytonyli merged commit df1854f into release/27.2 Aug 19, 2026
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crazytonyli deleted the fix/xmlrpc-https-downgrade branch August 19, 2026 23:04
crazytonyli added a commit that referenced this pull request Aug 20, 2026
* Never fall back to plaintext XML-RPC endpoints for https sites

When the entered site address is https, WordPressOrgXMLRPCValidator no
longer probes an http variant of the same host, and any endpoint that
discovery resolves to (via redirects or RSD links) is rejected unless it
is also https. Previously the username and application password were
sent to the http endpoint whenever the https xmlrpc.php probe failed,
and the plaintext endpoint was persisted (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g).

* Use an https XML-RPC endpoint for https sites at request time

Older app versions could silently downgrade a site's discovered XML-RPC
endpoint to http and persist it, so later XML-RPC traffic and the
credentials it carries crossed plaintext (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g). Blog.xmlrpcURL
returns the https-upgraded endpoint for an https site, and every credential
bearing XML-RPC client is now built from it (Blog.xmlrpcApi, the Zendesk
profile fetch, and the site settings credential check) instead of the raw
stored value. The persisted xmlrpc and the Keychain keyed by it are left
unchanged, so credential lookups still resolve; only the request endpoint is
upgraded, at the point the client is constructed. This closes the downgrade
regardless of launch timing or store restoration, with no migration pass.

* Add a release note

---------

Co-authored-by: Jeremy Massel <1123407+jkmassel@users.noreply.github.com>
pull Bot pushed a commit to kliu/WordPress-iOS that referenced this pull request Aug 20, 2026
* Rediscover the REST API root when its host does not match the site (wordpress-mobile#25903)

* Rediscover the REST API root when its host does not match the site

A blog's stored restApiRootURL can go stale: WP.com Simple sites advertise a
public-api.wordpress.com rest_route proxy root, which breaks direct wp/v2
requests once the site migrates to Atomic and an application password starts
being used, and a domain change leaves the root pointing at the old host.
Because the stored value was never re-validated, features on the core REST
API path (such as tags) failed with rest_no_route while WP.com v1.1 features
kept working.

Treat a host mismatch between the stored API root and the site URL as stale
and run API discovery again, persisting the rediscovered root. When
rediscovery fails, keep using the stored root so sites with unreachable or
disabled discovery are no worse off than before. Roots on the site's own
host are used as is, with no extra network traffic.

* Propagate cancellation before falling back to the stored REST API root

A cancelled API discovery surfaces as a discovery failure rather than a
CancellationError, so the stored-root fallback could let a cancelled
operation keep running. Check for task cancellation explicitly before
applying the fallback.

* Compare API root and site hosts using URL values

The stale-root check parsed both the stored REST API root and the site URL strings again just to read their hosts. Fetch the site URL as a URL, reuse the already-parsed root, and compare their hosts directly, dropping the string-parsing helper.

* Document the expected call frequency of createPasswordIfNeeded

* Add blog properties to some events (wordpress-mobile#25908)

* Attach the current site to the notifications_accessed event

The notifications list spans all sites, so no single site is truly scoped
to the event. Attach the currently visible (or last used) site so the
account-level event carries a blog_id, consistent with other tab-access
events.

* Attach the site to Jetpack Stats analytics events

The Stats analytics bridge (WPAnalyticsStatsTracker) forwarded every
JetpackStats event without a blog_id. Pass the viewed site's ID into the
tracker and stamp it on each event, so site-scoped Stats events such as
jetpack_stats_card_shown and jetpack_stats_main_screen_shown carry a
blog_id.

* Attach the site to the editor_settings_fetched event

* Attach the site to the free_to_paid_plan_dashboard_card_shown event

* Attach the site to the blaze_entry_point_displayed event

* Attach the site to the my_site_dashboard_shown event

* Attach the site to the blogging_prompts_my_site_card_viewed event

trackCardViewed is generic across dashboard cards, so this also attaches
the site to jetpack_install_full_plugin_card_viewed.

* Track notifications_accessed with the currently visible site

Switch from currentOrLastBlog() to currentlyVisibleBlog() so the event
carries a blog_id only when a site is actually on screen. When none is,
track it without a site rather than stamping a stale last-used one.

* Remove unused trackBlazeEntryPointDisplayed ObjC bridge

The method has no remaining callers.

* Attach site_type to Jetpack Stats analytics events

Pass the site's BlogAnalyticsProperties snapshot to the Stats bridge
instead of a bare site ID, and track through the canonical blogProperties
path so every Stats event carries site_type alongside blog_id, consistent
with the other site-scoped events.

* Never use an http XML-RPC endpoint for https sites (wordpress-mobile#25869)

* Never fall back to plaintext XML-RPC endpoints for https sites

When the entered site address is https, WordPressOrgXMLRPCValidator no
longer probes an http variant of the same host, and any endpoint that
discovery resolves to (via redirects or RSD links) is rejected unless it
is also https. Previously the username and application password were
sent to the http endpoint whenever the https xmlrpc.php probe failed,
and the plaintext endpoint was persisted (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g).

* Use an https XML-RPC endpoint for https sites at request time

Older app versions could silently downgrade a site's discovered XML-RPC
endpoint to http and persist it, so later XML-RPC traffic and the
credentials it carries crossed plaintext (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g). Blog.xmlrpcURL
returns the https-upgraded endpoint for an https site, and every credential
bearing XML-RPC client is now built from it (Blog.xmlrpcApi, the Zendesk
profile fetch, and the site settings credential check) instead of the raw
stored value. The persisted xmlrpc and the Keychain keyed by it are left
unchanged, so credential lookups still resolve; only the request endpoint is
upgraded, at the point the client is constructed. This closes the downgrade
regardless of launch timing or store restoration, with no migration pass.

* Add a release note

---------

Co-authored-by: Jeremy Massel <1123407+jkmassel@users.noreply.github.com>

* Never use an http REST API endpoint for https self-hosted sites (wordpress-mobile#25914)

* Prefer the discovered REST API root over the xmlrpc-derived URL for self-hosted sites

`WordPressOrgRestApi(blog:)` built its base URL from `Blog.url(withPath:)`, which
rewrites the raw `xmlrpc` string. An older app version could persist an http `xmlrpc`
endpoint for an https site (GHSA-qxpr-7v78-mh5g), so the self-hosted REST client — and
the application password it carries as a Basic auth header — could be built on http and
sent in plaintext.

Prefer `restApiRootURL`, the root observed during REST discovery (https for an https
site, and always written alongside the application token), falling back to the
xmlrpc-derived `wp-json/` URL only when no discovered root was persisted.

* Add a release note

* Update strings for localization

* Update app translations – `Localizable.strings`

* Update WordPress metadata translations

* Update Jetpack metadata translations

* Bump version number

---------

Co-authored-by: Tony Li <tony.li@automattic.com>
Co-authored-by: Jeremy Massel <1123407+jkmassel@users.noreply.github.com>
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4 participants