Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain plugin-manager account credentials
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DeliveryAuthenticate to WordPress wp-admin
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ExploitSend crafted POST to login settings save endpoint
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ExecutionBypass absent capability check
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PersistWrite privilege-escalating values to wp_options
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ImpactAchieve full administrator access
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires an active, authenticated WordPress session for an account that has been explicitly granted the User Registration & Membership plugin's management capability - a role that is intentionally below full administrator. This is not a default WordPress role; an administrator must have deliberately delegated this capability to a lower-privileged user. Sites where no such delegation has occurred are not at risk from this specific path. Limiting factors: the attacker cannot be anonymous (PR:H per CVSS), cannot exploit via a direct unauthenticated request, and the vulnerable condition only exists on WordPress installations running plugin versions below 5.2.6 with at least one non-admin user holding the plugin management role. There is no user interaction required from a victim once the attacker's session is established. |
| Impact | The CVSS 7.2 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) correctly reflects that exploitation requires high privilege - specifically a delegated plugin management role - which materially limits the realistic attack population compared to a PR:N vulnerability. EPSS data was not supplied, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified from that signal. SSVC rates exploitation as 'none' and automatable as 'no', aligning with the PR:H gate; however, SSVC also rates Technical Impact as 'total,' confirming that a successful exploit results in complete site compromise. A public POC is available (WPScan), which lowers the skill bar for any attacker who already satisfies the privilege prerequisite. The practical risk is highest in multi-tenant WordPress environments or managed hosting scenarios where plugin management roles are delegated to clients or contributors - even a mid-sized IT operation in legnica running a multi-author WordPress deployment would face meaningful risk if plugin roles have been granted to partially-trusted accounts. CVSS and SSVC signals are consistent and non-conflicting; no KEV listing means widespread opportunistic exploitation has not been confirmed. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who holds, or has compromised, an account with the User Registration & Membership plugin management capability sends a crafted HTTP POST to the plugin's login settings save endpoint without triggering a capability check. By injecting a malicious value into wp_options - such as modifying role capabilities or the admin email - the attacker grants their own account full administrator privileges. A public POC is available via WPScan, meaning the specific request structure is documented. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 28, 2026
Privilege escalation in the User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin before 5.2.6 lets authenticated users holding the plugin's delegated management capability overwrite arbitrary WordPress site options, including those governing user roles, enabling full administrator takeover. The root cause is a missing capability check on the login settings save handler - the plugin fails to verify the caller's WordPress capabilities before persisting changes to the wp_options table. A public proof-of-concept exploit exists per WPScan; however, SSVC reports no active exploitation and the CVE is absent from CISA KEV.
RemediationAI
Update the User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin to version 5.2.6 or later, which introduces the missing capability check and is confirmed as the vendor-released patch. The fix is documented in the WPScan advisory at https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/609bbb7c-c19a-4c72-8cef-95598a2cfc0d/. As a compensating control pending patching, audit and revoke the plugin's management capability from any user account that does not strictly require it - the attack surface is zero if no non-administrator account holds that delegated capability. Additionally, restricting wp-admin access to known IP ranges via server or WAF rules reduces the risk of credential-based access by external attackers. Note that role auditing is a temporary measure; patching to 5.2.6 is the definitive fix.
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
The affected component is the User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:unknown:user_registration_&_membership:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*), a plugin that manages front-end user registration and role-based access on WordPress sites. WordPress enforces access control through a capability system using the current_user_can() API; omitting this check on a sensitive settings-save endpoint is the direct manifestation of CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management). Because WordPress stores all site configuration in the wp_options table, any authenticated user who can write to that table without restriction can alter administrator email, user role mappings, or other security-critical settings. The plugin introduces its own sub-role (a plugin management capability) that is intended to be below full administrator - but the absent capability check collapses that distinction for the login settings endpoint specifically.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
PR:H is warranted because the attacker must hold a specifically delegated plugin management role; once that role is held, AC:L applies as no further conditions are needed, and full CIA impact follows from administrator escalation within the single WordPress instance.
Primary rating from Vendor (WPScan).
CVSS VectorVendor: WPScan
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
The User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin before 5.2.6 does not perform a capability check when saving its login settings, allowing authenticated users who have been granted a User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin before 5.2.6 management capability but not full administrator access to change arbitrary site options and escalate their privileges to administrator.
Articles & Coverage 1
Executive ViewAI
The User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin versions before 5.2.6 allow authenticated users with delegated management capabilities to escalate to full administrator privileges by modifying critical WordPress settings. Organizations using this plugin with distributed management roles face risk of unauthorized site takeover, data theft, and operational disruption if user access is not tightly controlled.
Apply vendor patch.
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
Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.
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EUVD-2026-67575
GHSA-wcg9-8v95-6r4q
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB