CVE-2026-80071: CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management in User Registration & Membership
The User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin before 5.2.8 does not properly restrict who may author a membership plan or validate the plan a user attaches to their own account, allowing authenticated users with Author-level access and above to assign themselves an arbitrary role and escalate their privileges to Administrator.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-80071 describes an improper privilege management vulnerability (CWE-269) in the User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin versions prior to 5.2.8. The plugin fails to properly restrict which users may author membership plans and does not validate the membership plan a user attaches to their account. Consequently, authenticated users with Author-level or higher privileges can assign themselves arbitrary roles, including Administrator, thereby escalating their privileges beyond intended limits.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation allows an authenticated user with Author-level or higher privileges to escalate their privileges to Administrator. This can lead to full control over the WordPress site, including the ability to modify content, install plugins, change settings, and potentially compromise the entire site and its data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade the User Registration & Membership plugin to version 5.2.8 or later where this vulnerability is fixed. Since the vulnerability affects versions prior to 5.2.8, applying this official patch eliminates the risk. No other mitigation is necessary once the plugin is updated.
CVE-2026-80071: CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management in User Registration & Membership
Description
The User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin before 5.2.8 does not properly restrict who may author a membership plan or validate the plan a user attaches to their own account, allowing authenticated users with Author-level access and above to assign themselves an arbitrary role and escalate their privileges to Administrator.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.2high
Affected software
User Registration & Membership
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-80071 describes an improper privilege management vulnerability (CWE-269) in the User Registration & Membership WordPress plugin versions prior to 5.2.8. The plugin fails to properly restrict which users may author membership plans and does not validate the membership plan a user attaches to their account. Consequently, authenticated users with Author-level or higher privileges can assign themselves arbitrary roles, including Administrator, thereby escalating their privileges beyond intended limits.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation allows an authenticated user with Author-level or higher privileges to escalate their privileges to Administrator. This can lead to full control over the WordPress site, including the ability to modify content, install plugins, change settings, and potentially compromise the entire site and its data confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade the User Registration & Membership plugin to version 5.2.8 or later where this vulnerability is fixed. Since the vulnerability affects versions prior to 5.2.8, applying this official patch eliminates the risk. No other mitigation is necessary once the plugin is updated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- WPScan
- Date Reserved
- 2026-08-25T18:22:58.616Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6aa682ae55bf5e2cf583e193
Added to database: 09/13/2026, 11:02:06 UTC
Last enriched: 09/13/2026, 11:16:35 UTC
Last updated: 09/14/2026, 04:01:23 UTC
Views: 15
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