CVE-2026-22391 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting Mikado-Themes Cocco, a web theme product, up to version 1.5.1. The root cause is an authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, which means that the application incorrectly trusts or processes a key parameter that users can manipulate to circumvent access control mechanisms. This vulnerability stems from misconfigured access control security levels, allowing an attacker with some level of privileges (PR:L) to escalate their access rights without requiring user interaction (UI:N). The attack vector is network-based (AV:N), meaning the attacker can exploit it remotely. The impact affects confidentiality and integrity to a limited extent (C:L/I:L), but does not affect availability (A:N). The vulnerability does not require user interaction and is exploitable within the same security scope (S:U). No known public exploits or patches have been reported yet, but the vulnerability has been officially published and reserved in early January 2026. The lack of patches increases the risk of exploitation if attackers develop proof-of-concept code. Organizations using Mikado-Themes Cocco should review their access control configurations and monitor for suspicious activity related to key parameters in their web applications.

For European organizations, this vulnerability could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information or unauthorized modification of data within applications using Mikado-Themes Cocco. Although the impact on availability is none, the confidentiality and integrity impacts could result in data leakage or unauthorized changes, potentially affecting customer data or internal resources. Organizations in sectors with strict data protection regulations (e.g., GDPR) could face compliance risks if unauthorized access leads to personal data exposure. The vulnerability requires some privileges to exploit, so attackers might leverage compromised accounts or insider threats to escalate privileges further. This could undermine trust in affected web services and lead to reputational damage. Since Mikado-Themes Cocco is a niche product, the impact is limited to organizations using this specific theme, but those affected should prioritize remediation to avoid lateral movement or privilege escalation within their environments.

1. Immediately audit and review access control configurations related to user-controlled keys in Mikado-Themes Cocco implementations. 2. Restrict and validate all user inputs, especially keys or tokens used for authorization, to ensure they cannot be manipulated to bypass controls. 3. Implement strict role-based access control (RBAC) policies and verify that privilege levels are correctly enforced at all application layers. 4. Monitor logs for unusual access patterns or attempts to manipulate key parameters. 5. Apply patches or updates from Mikado-Themes as soon as they become available. 6. If patches are not yet available, consider deploying web application firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the vulnerable parameters. 7. Conduct penetration testing focused on authorization bypass scenarios to identify and remediate similar weaknesses. 8. Educate developers and administrators on secure coding and configuration practices to prevent misconfigurations in access control.