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highPrivilege Escpublic exploit

CVE-2026-75927

CVE-2026-75927 — PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.0 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation to Fresh-Install Default Capability Grant

The PublishPress Capabilities – User Role Editor, Access Permissions, User Capabilities, Admin Menus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.50.0. This is due to the `addPluginCapabilities()` function unconditionally granting the Editor role all 15 `manage_capabilities_*` capabilities — including `manage_capabilities`, `manage_capabilities_roles`, `manage_capabilities_settings`, and `manage_capabilities_backup` — via a hard-coded `$eligible_roles = ['administrator', 'editor']` assignment that runs automatically on the first `admin_init` after plugin activation with no administrator opt-in, persisting the grants directly to the database. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Editor-level access to elevate their privileges to a site-wide capability manager, enabling them to create, rename, and delete non-system roles, modify capabilities of non-administrator roles, restore role backups, and write arbitrary plugin options whose names begin with `cme_`, `capsman`, `pp_capabilities`, or `presspermit` via `update_option()`. The escalation stops short of full Administrator access, as WordPress's `map_meta_cap` layer still prevents the escalated Editor from granting administrator-only capabilities to other roles; however, all role-management and plugin-settings functionality gated solely on `manage_capabilities_*` capabilities remains fully accessible.

Published Updated Sources: NVD, publishpress (CNA), GitHub, GitHub Security Advisory, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Exploit code

public exploit, none observed

EPSS

0%

ahead of 0% of scored CVEs

Affects

publishpress

User Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles

CVSS base

7.2

high

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade User Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

  • Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
  • Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure.
  • Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatus
publishpressUser Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles0 to <= 2.50.0Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

High

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

High

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactSource
7.2CVSS 3.1high1.25.9NVD, publishpress (CNA), GHSA

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

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

  • Gain Privileges or Assume Identity::

Mitigation: Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.

Weakness & attack patterns

  • CWE-269Improper Privilege Management

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-122 · Privilege AbuseCAPEC-58 · Restful Privilege ElevationCAPEC-233 · Privilege Escalation
  • T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

1

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

  • Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable User Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles.
  • Review endpoint telemetry for service binary replacement, suspicious service launches, or privilege changes tied to the affected agent.
  • Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 1 public PoC repositories were reported.
web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPSEDR process telemetryhost service logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

  1. 2026
  2. Added · CVSS 3.1 7.2 (AV:N)

    Sep 9, 2026 · NVD

  3. Initial · CVE published

    Sep 9, 2026 · NVD

  4. Added · GHSA-pv68-4cpj-v6j3 published (high)

    Sep 9, 2026 · GitHub Security Advisory

  5. CVE published by MITRE.

    Sep 9, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

  6. Reported · Disclosed

    Sep 8, 2026 · publishpress

  7. Reported · Vendor Notified

    Aug 18, 2026 · publishpress

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

  • 2 times mentioned on 1 Telegram channelsSep 9, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

9 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-75927 is PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.0 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation to Fresh-Install Default Capability Grant, a high vulnerability affecting User Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles from publishpress. The current evidence does not list it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-75927. Public exploit evidence is: 1 public PoC repositories reported; 0 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 7.2 describes technical severity, while EPSS 0% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.