VulnerabilityPublished 3 Jul 2026Updated 6 Jul 2026

CVE-2026-9230: Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) (WordPress plugin) · Missing Authorization

Affects Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) (WordPress plugin)Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 14 Nov 2026, 20:44 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 42% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: Low
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 3 Jul 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 14 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
expresstechQuiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Easy Quiz and Survey Maker	Affected <=11.1.4	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Until an official fix is available, restrict contributor-level access to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious activity related to quiz modifications. Avoid granting contributor or higher privileges to untrusted users. Follow vendor updates for patches addressing this authorization bypass.

Description

The Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Easy Quiz and Survey Maker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 11.1.4. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to modify quizzes they do not own, overwrite quiz results pages, and reroute quiz-result notification emails to attacker-controlled addresses. An attacker first calls the /quiz/structure endpoint with an arbitrary victim quiz ID to obtain a valid nonce bound to that quiz ID and their own user ID, then presents that nonce to the /quizzes/{id}/emails save endpoint, which accepts it without verifying quiz ownership.

Impact

The vulnerability allows authenticated users with contributor-level access or higher to perform unauthorized modifications to quizzes they do not own, including changing quiz content, overwriting result pages, and redirecting notification emails. This can lead to integrity issues in quiz data and potential information disclosure or phishing via manipulated email notifications. There is no direct impact on confidentiality or availability reported.

Summary

CVE-2026-9230 is an authorization bypass vulnerability in the Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) WordPress plugin up to version 11.1.4. The vulnerability stems from improper authorization checks when processing requests to the /quiz/structure and /quizzes/{id}/emails endpoints. An attacker with contributor-level privileges can obtain a nonce tied to a victim's quiz ID and their own user ID, then use this nonce to modify quiz emails without verifying ownership. This enables unauthorized modification of quizzes, overwriting of quiz result pages, and rerouting of notification emails to attacker-controlled addresses.

CWE-862Missing Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #4OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Exploitation of Thunderbolt Protection Flaws (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Jul 2026, 08:50 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-862

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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