Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessRegister or obtain Subscriber account
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DeliveryAccess plugin user import/export endpoint
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ExploitManipulate role/meta under required conditions
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ExecutionEscalate to administrator privileges
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ImpactFull site compromise
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Privilege assignment review
|
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires an authenticated low-privileged WordPress account (PR:L - the description specifies a Subscriber), so the site must permit or already have subscriber-level users; sites with open user registration make this precondition trivial. Exploitation targets the 'Import and export users and customers' plugin (by Javier Carazo) at versions <= 2.5.2. The CVSS AC:H rating indicates a non-trivial precondition (timing, race, or specific state) rather than a single deterministic request, which LIMITS reliable exploitation. No user interaction is required (UI:N) and the vector is network-reachable (AV:N). |
| Impact | The single most authoritative signal here is the Patchstack-supplied CVSS 3.1 vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, scoring 7.5 (High). It describes an authenticated (PR:L, i.e. a Subscriber-level account) privilege-escalation flaw reachable over the network with no user interaction, but gated by high attack complexity (AC:H) - meaning some race, timing, or non-trivial precondition is needed rather than a trivial single request. The C:H/I:H/A:H triad is consistent with privilege escalation: a low-privileged subscriber gaining higher (potentially administrator-equivalent) rights would fully compromise the site. There is no EPSS score, no CISA KEV listing, and no public POC provided in the input, so exploitation status is 'no public exploit identified at time of analysis.' No SSVC decision data was supplied. The realistic priority is moderate: the flaw requires an existing authenticated account (PR:L) and non-trivial exploitation (AC:H), which lowers real-world urgency below what the 7.5 base score alone suggests, but on WordPress sites that allow open subscriber registration, obtaining PR:L is trivial, which raises effective risk. Sites should patch, prioritizing those with open registration enabled. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker registers or already holds a low-privileged (Subscriber) account on a WordPress site running the 'Import and export users and customers' plugin at version 2.5.2 or earlier. By abusing the plugin's user import/update handling under specific conditions (reflected in the AC:H rating), the attacker manipulates their own role or metadata to escalate to a higher-privileged role such as administrator. No public exploit code was identified in the available data, and the high attack complexity implies non-default timing or precondition requirements. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 30, 2026
Privilege escalation in the WordPress plugin Import and Export Users and Customers (Javier Carazo) at versions up to and including 2.5.2 lets an authenticated low-privileged account - specifically a Subscriber - reach higher-privileged roles, giving full compromise of the site's confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CVSS 3.1 base 7.5, High). The advisory-supplied vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H means the attack is network-reachable and needs no victim interaction, but the High Attack Complexity rating reflects a non-trivial precondition (a specific plugin state, ordering, or crafted import payload) that limits how reliably it can be pulled off; it does require the attacker to already hold a Subscriber account, which is trivial on sites with open registration enabled. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis and the issue is not listed in CISA KEV, so exploitation is currently assessed as a targeted-risk rather than a mass-scanning risk; no EPSS probability was supplied with this record.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patch is identified in the provided data, so treat the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/vulnerability/wordpress-import-and-export-users-and-customers-plugin-2-5-2-privilege-escalation-vulnerability?_s_id=cve and the WordPress.org plugin page as the authoritative sources for a fixed release above 2.5.2, and upgrade as soon as a patched build is published. Where an immediate update is not possible, the highest-value compensating control is to deactivate the plugin entirely - it removes both the vulnerable code path and any import/export functionality, at the cost of losing CSV bulk user management (a direct functional trade-off that should be accepted if the plugin is not business-critical). If the plugin must stay online, close the Subscriber precondition: disable open user registration (Settings > General > Membership) and remove or prune existing Subscriber/customer accounts that are not genuinely needed, accepting that this blocks legitimate self-service signup. Additionally, restrict access to the plugin's admin/import-export endpoints (for example via a WAF rule or web-server rule limiting the relevant admin-ajax/admin-post actions to trusted roles or IP ranges), and audit the WordPress users table for any accounts whose role was unexpectedly elevated to Administrator, Editor, or Shop Manager, treating such accounts as compromised and resetting their credentials. Subscriber role removal is a partial, not complete, mitigation - an attacker with any account that can reach the import path may still trigger the Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266), and because the vector is AC:H the absence of observed exploitation is not evidence that the precondition cannot be met on a given site.
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 a WordPress plugin that imports and exports user and customer records - typically CSV or similar bulk files - and, in doing so, maps or assigns WordPress roles and capabilities to the accounts it creates or updates. CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) is the root-cause class here: the plugin assigns privileges without adequate authorization checks or role-allowlisting on the importing actor, so an account that should never be able to influence role assignment can cause a higher-privileged role to be granted. The Patchstack CPE entry cpe:2.3:a:javier_carazo:import_and_export_users_and_customers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* is version-wildcarded, meaning the CPE itself flags the whole product line; the advisory description bounds the vulnerable set to releases at or below 2.5.2. Because the vector carries PR:L, the attacker must first hold a low-privileged WordPress account; because it carries AC:H, the escalation is not a single deterministic request but depends on conditions such as reaching the import/export handler with the right payload, role parameters, or timing/state, which is why the score stops at 7.5 rather than higher. WordPress Subscribers normally hold no user-management capabilities, so the defect is that the plugin's import/export path bypasses or fails to enforce those capability and role restrictions.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Authenticated Subscriber (PR:L) exploiting over the network (AV:N) with a non-trivial precondition (AC:H); successful privilege escalation to admin yields full C:H/I:H/A:H.
Primary rating from Vendor (Patchstack).
CVSS VectorVendor: Patchstack
DescriptionCVE.org
Subscriber Privilege Escalation in Import and export users and customers <= 2.5.2 versions.
Executive ViewAI
Organizations using the WordPress plugin Import and Export Users and Customers (versions up to and including 2.5.2) face a high-severity privilege escalation flaw that could allow an authenticated Subscriber to gain full administrative control of their site. While no public exploit identified at time of analysis and the issue is not in CISA KEV, the absence of a vendor patch means sites remain exposed. Leadership should prioritize immediate mitigations to prevent potential data breaches, website defacement, or loss of customer trust.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations include: disabling open registration, restricting Subscriber account creation, implementing WAF rules to block exploit attempts, monitoring for privilege escalation, and considering plugin removal or replacement.
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.
Privilege escalation in the "Import and export users and customers" WordPress plugin before 2.4.2 lets a user who holds
The Import and export users and customers WordPress plugin before 1.20.5 does not properly escape data when exporting it
Import and export users and customers WordPress Plugin through 1.15.5.11 allows CSV injection via a customer's profile.
Privilege escalation in the Import Export Users WordPress plugin before 2.5.2 allows authenticated users with the create
Privilege escalation in the Import and export users and customers WordPress plugin (versions 2.4.16 through before 2.5.2
Path traversal in the 'Import and export users and customers' WordPress plugin (versions before 2.4.3) enables high-priv
Privilege escalation in the WordPress plugin Import and Export Users and Customers (versions up to and including 2.4.17)
The Import and export users and customers WordPress plugin before 1.19.2.1 does not sanitise and escaped imported CSV da
Server-side request forgery in the WordPress plugin Import and Export Users and Customers (versions before 2.4.5) causes
The Import and export users and customers plugin for WordPress contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows
Privilege escalation in the WordPress plugin Import and Export Users and Customers (versions through 2.5.5) allows an au
The Import and export users and customers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Directory Traversal in all versions up t
EUVD-2026-89843
GHSA-38gq-jvw6-2hjm
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB