Private Content <= 8.11.5 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Private Content
- Affected Version
<= 8.11.5- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE-2025-26966
At a glance
CVE-2025-26966 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the Private Content WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 8.11.5. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed February 2025, reported by Rafie Muhammad.
Vulnerability Overview
The Private Content plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 8.11.5. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to takeover other user's accounts effectively elevating their privileges.
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 privileges on the target site, 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 Private Content <= 8.11.5 takes no account at all. 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Private Content yet, so installs running <= 8.11.5 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
How does WordSec protect against this?
This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Private Content
- 6.5CVE-2025-26976: Private Content <= 8.11.5 SQL Injection
CVE-2025-26976 - 6.1CVE-2025-26972: Private Content <= 8.11.5 Reflected XSS
CVE-2025-26972 - 5.4CVE-2025-26969: Private Content <= 8.11.5 Missing Authorization
CVE-2025-26969 - 5.3CVE-2023-0581: PrivateContent <= 8.4.3 Protection Mechanism Bypass
CVE-2023-0581
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