HIGHCVSS v3.1 8.8Vulnerability

CVE-2026-85659

The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the `update_cc_details()` AJAX handler forwards an attacker-supplied `username` parameter to ONTRAPORT via `api_call('update_cc_details', ...)` before performing the local `username_exists()` collision check, and aborts without rolling back the remote rename when a collision is detected — leaving the remote ONTRAPORT contact renamed to an existing WordPress Administrator's login. On a subsequent login attempt, `user_login()` (hooked to `wp_authenticate`) authenticates against ONTRAPORT using the renamed login and the attacker's own password, resolves the local WordPress user row via `get_user_by('login', $username)` — which now selects the real Administrator's row — and calls `wp_set_password()` against that Administrator's user ID; because the `user_level != 10` guard only suppresses PilotPress's own cookie issuance rather than returning a `WP_Error` to core, WordPress proceeds to validate the newly-synchronized password and issues a full Administrator authentication cookie to the attacker. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above — specifically any PilotPress member holding a valid ONTRAPORT contact and the Customer Center nonce — to fully take over an Administrator account.

Properties

Severity
HIGH
Nvd fetched at
2026-10-20T21:14:08.448323+00:00
Epss score
0.00367
Cvss severity
HIGH
Cvss score
8.8
Retrieved at
2026-10-21T01:24:50+00:00
Last source
FIRST EPSS
Score
8.8
Cvss version
3.1
Cve id
CVE-2026-85659
Cvss vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
First seen by Signal
2026-10-18T13:39:03+00:00
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published at
2026-10-16T06:17:11.493
Last modified
2026-10-16T15:17:33.300
Epss percentile
0.29114

Related Entities (1)

HAS_WEAKNESS (1)

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CVE-2026-85659 (CVSS v3.1 8.8) — Ninja Signal Threat Intelligence | Ninja Signal