how do I install a plugin in wordpress without admin access

Question

Is it possible to install a plugin in Wordpress even I haven't admin access. This question has been raised in the interview. I responded as No because a CMS can't provide space for security beach. I am curious to know that is it really possible?

Answer 1

You might be able to if you have access to the DB, or/and if you have write access to the filesystem (through FTP for example). But not through the web interface.

Answer 2

If you had FTP access you could use the activate_plugin() function. There's very little information out there about this function but it looks fairly simple.

Consider using a function like plugin_basename() to get the path you need. http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/plugin_basename

activate_plugin( '/path/to/plugin/file' );