CVE-2026-12497 - Before 4 Plugin
CVE-2026-12497
The Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content WordPress plugin before 4.16.18 does not consistently enforce the role restriction configured on its front-end registration role-selection field. The set of roles offered to the visitor and the set of roles the registration handler accepts are derived by two different parsers, and for some valid ways of configuring the offered roles the handler ignores the restriction and falls back to accepting any non-administrator role. Combined with the absence of a nonce on the public registration handler, this allows an unauthenticated visitor to register an account with a higher role, such as Editor or Author, than the form was configured to offer.
CVE-2026-12497
HIGH
CVSS 7.5
Published 2026-07-24
Updated 2026-07-24
AI Risk High (82/100)
Active Exploit: No strong signal
Published Exploit: No public exploit references
Priority: P2 Urgent
Severity Band
HIGH
CVSS Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Affected Components
2
Reference Links
1
AI Risk Engine
High (82/100)
Exploitability
High
Active Exploitation
No strong signal
Published Exploit Status
No public exploit references
AI Context
Machine-generated threat intelligence
AI
Updated 2 hours ago
AI enriched 2 hours ago (2026-07-25 18:17 UTC)
Technical Summary
The Paid Membership Plugin, Ecommerce, User Registration Form, Login Form, User Profile & Restrict Content WordPress plugin before 4.16.18 does not consistently enforce the role restriction configured on its front-end registration role-selection field. The set of roles offered to the visitor and the set of roles the registration handler accepts are derived by two different parsers, and for some valid ways of configuring the offered roles the handler ignores the restriction and falls back to accepting any non-administrator role. Combined…
Potential Impact
Severity is HIGH (CVSS 7.5). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.
Exploitability Assessment
Exploitability is assessed as High based on remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites.
Primary risk drivers: remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites
Mitigation Recommendations
Validate affected product versions, prioritize patching, and monitor references for vendor remediation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, apply compensating controls and limit exposure of vulnerable surfaces.
Detection & Monitoring
Track authentication anomalies, unexpected file writes, and suspicious plugin API activity around affected components.
Business Impact Lens
AI risk score 82/100 (High, High) with priority P2 Urgent. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.
