BuddyPress Groupblog <= 1.9.3 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation to Administrator via Group Blog IDOR
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.9.4
- Affected Plugin
- BuddyPress Groupblog
- Affected Version
<= 1.9.3- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE-2026-5144
At a glance
CVE-2026-5144 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the BuddyPress Groupblog WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.9.3. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.9.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2026, reported by Nabil Irawan.
Vulnerability Overview
The BuddyPress Groupblog plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.9.3. This is due to the group blog settings handler accepting the `groupblog-blogid`, `default-member`, and `groupblog-silent-add` parameters from user input without proper authorization checks. The `groupblog-blogid` parameter allows any group admin (including Subscribers who create their own group) to associate their group with any blog on the Multisite network, including the main site (blog ID 1). The `default-member` parameter accepts any WordPress role, including `administrator`, without validation against a whitelist. When combined with `groupblog-silent-add`, any user who joins the attacker's group is automatically added to the targeted blog with the injected role. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to escalate any user (including themselves via a second account) to Administrator on the main site of the Multisite network.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management
Reaching this weakness in BuddyPress Groupblog <= 1.9.3 takes an account at Subscriber level or above. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.
It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For BuddyPress Groupblog the fix is 1.9.4: builds <= 1.9.3 are affected, anything from 1.9.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.9.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: BuddyPress Groupblog 1.9.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C