Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessLure logged-in admin to malicious page
-
DeliveryBrowser auto-submits forged capability request
-
ExploitWordPress processes under admin session
-
ExecutionAttacker-chosen role/capability change applied
-
ImpactPrivilege escalation on site
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V3 - Web Frontend Security Anti-CSRF tokens, SameSite cookies
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires a victim who is currently authenticated to WordPress as a user with sufficient privileges (typically an administrator, since the plugin manages roles/capabilities) and who is tricked into interacting with attacker-controlled content (UI:R) while that session is active. The core precondition is the plugin's missing or inadequate CSRF token validation on its capability/role-modification actions in PublishPress Capabilities versions <= 2.50.1. Limiting factors: the attacker cannot act without a logged-in privileged victim, success is gated on user interaction and an active session, and there is no self-contained unauthenticated exploitation path against a default install absent that victim click. |
| Impact | This is a moderate-priority issue whose 8.1 CVSS overstates real-world urgency because exploitation is not self-driven. The vendor vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H) shows an unauthenticated, network-reachable flaw, but the PR:N applies only to the attacker's own lack of credentials - the request is executed with the session of a tricked, logged-in high-privilege user, and UI:R makes that victim interaction a hard gate. No EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public exploit code are present in the supplied intelligence, so all three exploitation signals point away from active or automated abuse. The C:N/I:H/A:H impact profile is characteristic of CSRF against a role/capability-management plugin (forged writes that alter permissions), though I regard A:H as generous - a CSRF that flips capability settings is primarily an integrity issue and availability disruption is incidental, so my independent read is ~6.5 with A:N. No fix version is provided in the input, which is a gap for defenders trying to confirm remediation. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker hosts a malicious page (or emails a crafted link) and lures a logged-in WordPress administrator running PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.1 into visiting it; the page auto-submits a forged request to the plugin's capability/role-management endpoint, which the site processes under the admin's authenticated session. Because the request lacks proper anti-CSRF token validation, attacker-chosen role or capability changes are applied - potentially granting a low-privilege account administrative rights. No public proof-of-concept is identified in the available data, and success depends on the victim admin being authenticated at click time. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 23, 2026
Cross-site request forgery in PublishPress Capabilities 2.50.1 and earlier lets an attacker lure a logged-in, sufficiently privileged WordPress user into silently submitting role- and capability-modification requests, producing unauthorized permission changes with high integrity impact. The published CVSS 8.1 reflects PR:N/UI:R, but the independent assessment scores the same flaw as C:N/I:H/A:N, giving a materially lower effective severity: exploitation is not self-driven, it requires an authenticated administrative victim to interact with attacker-controlled content during an active session. There is no confirmed active exploitation (not in CISA KEV), no public exploit code identified at time of analysis, and the issue should be treated as moderate priority despite the headline score.
RemediationAI
The provided data does not include a confirmed fixed version, so patch availability should be treated as unconfirmed: update PublishPress Capabilities to the first release published after 2.50.1 as soon as the vendor or the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/capability-manager-enhanced/vulnerability/wordpress-publishpress-capabilities-plugin-2-50-1-cross-site-request-forgery-csrf-vulnerability identifies it, and re-check that page for the definitive fixed version rather than assuming one. Until then, apply compensating controls: deactivate the plugin if role/capability editing is not actively needed (eliminates the attack surface entirely at the cost of losing its functionality); restrict wp-admin and admin-ajax.php access to trusted source addresses or a VPN/reverse proxy so untrusted browsers cannot reach the vulnerable handlers (breaks remote/roaming admin access); configure WordPress authentication cookies with SameSite=Strict where the hosting stack allows it, understanding that this can break SSO, cross-domain login redirects or some embedded admin workflows; and deploy a WAF rule that rejects state-changing POST requests to wp-admin/admin.php, admin-post.php and admin-ajax.php carrying capability-manager actions without a valid WordPress nonce, accepting a risk of false positives against legitimate admin operations. Finally, because the flaw yields integrity-only impact, treat detection as important as prevention: audit the wp_user_roles option and user capability meta for unexpected changes, alert on role grants to non-administrative accounts, and re-verify WordPress administrator accounts and their capabilities after any suspected exposure.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
PublishPress Capabilities (WordPress plugin slug capability-manager-enhanced, tracked as cpe:2.3:a:publishpress:publishpress_capabilities) is an administrative plugin that edits WordPress roles and capabilities, effectively writing to core authorization structures such as the wp_user_roles option and per-user capability meta. The defect is CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery): the plugin's role/capability-modifying actions lack adequate anti-CSRF token (nonce) validation, so a forged request originating from an attacker-controlled page is accepted as if it came from the legitimate administrator. Because the forged action mutates authorization state, the realistic outcome is privilege escalation or permission weakening (for example, granting elevated capabilities to a lower-privileged account) rather than data disclosure - hence the integrity-only impact profile in the independent assessment. The attack chain is browser-mediated: the attacker supplies the request, but the victim's authenticated session and their click supply the authority (UI:R), and the request must be able to reach wp-admin endpoints such as admin.php, admin-post.php or admin-ajax.php.
Know when Publishpress Capabilities gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Network CSRF with no attacker auth (PR:N) but mandatory victim interaction (UI:R); forged capability writes give I:H, no data disclosure (C:N), and availability loss is incidental so A:N.
Primary rating from Vendor (Patchstack).
CVSS VectorVendor: Patchstack
DescriptionCVE.org
Unauthenticated Cross Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.1 versions.
Executive ViewAI
A cross-site request forgery flaw affects PublishPress Capabilities 2.50.1 and earlier, a WordPress plugin used to manage user roles and permissions, and no vendor patch is currently available. If exploited, an attacker could trick a logged-in privileged WordPress user into silently granting elevated capabilities, potentially handing unauthorized parties administrative control of affected sites and the content, customer data, and integrations they host. There is no evidence of active exploitation or public exploit code, so this is a manageable, moderate-priority exposure that should be tracked and mitigated through interim controls rather than emergency escalation.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: deactivate or remove the PublishPress Capabilities plugin where role management can be handled another way; restrict wp-admin access by IP allowlist, VPN, or SSO with multi-factor authentication for privileged users; reduce the number of administrator accounts and enforce least privilege; shorten authenticated session lifetimes and require re-authentication for role/capability changes; train administrators not to follow untrusted links while logged in; and enable logging and alerting on role and capability modifications to detect unauthorized changes.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Cross-Site Request Forgery exploits the automatic credential inclusion behavior of web browsers.
More in Publishpress Capabilities
View allPrivilege escalation in the PublishPress Capabilities WordPress plugin (slug capability-manager-enhanced) up to and incl
Editor-level privilege escalation in the PublishPress Capabilities WordPress plugin (versions ≤ 2.45.0) enables authenti
PublishPress Capabilities versions up to 2.31.0 contain an authorization bypass that allows authenticated users to explo
EUVD-2026-85480
GHSA-4wfx-q57g-47xc
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB