CVE-2026-4484

Masteriyo LMS <= 2.1.6 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Student+) Privilege Escalation to Administrator

2026-03-25 12:44
Hunter Jensen (skid)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.1.7
Affected Plugin
Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates
Affected Version
<= 2.1.6
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2026-4484
View all Masteriyo LMS – LMS Course Builder, Quizzes & Certificates vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-4484 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Masteriyo LMS WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.1.6. 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 Student level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.1.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2026, reported by Hunter Jensen (skid).

Vulnerability Overview

The Masteriyo LMS plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.1.6. This is due to the plugin allowing a user to update the user role through the 'InstructorsController::prepare_object_for_database' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Student-level access and above, to elevate their privileges to that of an administrator.

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-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Masteriyo LMS <= 2.1.6 takes an account at Student level or above. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Masteriyo LMS the fix is 2.1.7: builds <= 2.1.6 are affected, anything from 2.1.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.1.7, 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: Masteriyo LMS 2.1.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-4484https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/265be0af-66a4-4636-ab81-f8e2c5a1282ehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-4484

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C