How can I ping update-core.php with a script?

Question

I have the paid Divi theme on many websites on a cPanel powered server. I use WP-CLI in a bash script to update all the plugins and themes. But Divi will never update because it only reveals an update is available when you visit wp-admin/update-core.php When you visit that main update page with a browser, you'll see the update number next to "Updates" magically grow by +1.

What I want to do is call update-core.php so it runs one time, because after that happens, WP-CLI is able to detect the Divi update without any problem. At least this is what I think I want to do. Clearly I'm open to suggestions.

What I've tried so far:

This is the php script in the public web root:

<?php
define( 'WP_ADMIN', true );
ignore_user_abort(true);
$path = $_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'];
//define( 'SHORTINIT', true );
require( $path.'/wp-load.php' );
require( $path.'/wp-admin/update-core.php' );

But calling that from a browser just goes to a login screen, because it fails the current_user_can checks at the beginning of update-core.php Should I try to create a hacked version of update-core.php that has no user checks? Am I pursuing the wrong path entirely?

There was a discussion on GitHub but I was not able to get the --require feature to work with a script containing define( 'WP_ADMIN', true );

https://github.com/wp-cli/extension-command/issues/106

The bash script I use to bulk update is like this--

#!/bin/bash

declare -a arr=(
"account1"
"account2"
"account3"
                )

for i in "${arr[@]}"
do
   echo "$i"
   echo ______________________________________________________
   cd /home/"$i"/www
   wp core update-db --allow-root
   wp core update --allow-root
   wp plugin update --all --allow-root
   wp theme update --all --allow-root
   chown -R "$i":"$i" *
done

Answer 1

WP-CLI was updated to include a new global parameter that allows the execution of arbitrary PHP code before the main command runs. This allows you to pass the is_admin() check that some themes and plugins use.

wp plugin update --all --exec="define( 'WP_ADMIN', true );"