Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation <= 4.5.2 - Insecure Direct Object Reference
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 4.5.3
- Affected Plugin
- Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation
- Affected Version
<= 4.5.2- CVSS
- 6.5Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-639 · Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
- CVE
CVE-2026-11454
At a glance
CVE-2026-11454 is a medium-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in the Groundhogg WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). The issue is fixed in version 4.5.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Lucius-log.
Vulnerability Overview
The Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in all versions up to, and including, 4.5.2 via the GET /wp-json/gh/v4/contacts/<id> REST endpoint. The endpoint's permission callback checks only the role-level view_contacts capability and read_single() returns the full contact record by sequential integer ID without the object-level view_contact ownership check applied elsewhere in the codebase. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers holding view_contacts but not view_others_contacts — notably Groundhogg's built-in Sales Rep role, designed to see only its own contacts — to read any contact record on the site, including PII, contact meta, owner IDs, the admin edit URL, and (for contacts linked to a WordPress user) that user's full capability set.
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.
CWE-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Groundhogg <= 4.5.2 carries this weakness at read_single(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, often called insecure direct object reference, means the application looks up a record by an identifier from the request without checking that the caller owns it.
Changing a number in the request is enough to read or modify other users' records, which on commerce and membership sites means customer data. For Groundhogg the fix is 4.5.3: builds <= 4.5.2 are affected, anything from 4.5.3 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 4.5.3, or a newer patched version
How WordSec helps
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: Groundhogg 4.5.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation
- 8.8CVE-2025-48300: Groundhogg <= 4.2.1 Arbitrary File Upload
CVE-2025-48300 - 8.8CVE-2025-0394: Groundhogg <= 3.7.3.5 Arbitrary File Upload
CVE-2025-0394 - 8.8Groundhogg <= 1.3.11.13 SQL Injection
- 8.8CVE-2019-15647: WordPress CRM RCE
CVE-2019-15647 - 8.1CVE-2026-57389: Groundhogg Arbitrary File Deletion
CVE-2026-57389 - 8.1CVE-2026-40727: Groundhogg Arbitrary File Deletion
CVE-2026-40727 - 7.5CVE-2025-54053: Groundhogg <= 4.2.2 PHP Object Injection
CVE-2025-54053 - 7.5CVE-2023-2736: Groundhogg <= 2.7.9.8 CSRF to Privilege Escalation
CVE-2023-2736
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