CVE-2026-75927
PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.0 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation to Fresh-Install Default Capability Grant
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- Wordfence
Description
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.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordfenceCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | High7.2 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.64% · top 49% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Weakness
Affected products
References (7)
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/2f35ab5c-f897-404b-92ea-71bf1c98e0c0?source=cve (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/capability-manager-enhanced/tags/2.50.0/classes/pp-capabilities-installer.php#L78 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/capability-manager-enhanced/tags/2.50.0/includes/admin-load.php#L758 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/capability-manager-enhanced/tags/2.50.0/includes/functions-admin.php#L361 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/capability-manager-enhanced/tags/2.50.0/includes/settings-handler.php#L22 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/capability-manager-enhanced/tags/2.50.0/includes/manager.php#L1186 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3665572%40capability-manager-enhanced&new=3665572%40capability-manager-enhanced (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-75927)Record last updated .