YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium <= 3.35.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation to Admin via wp_ajax_yith_wcwtl_add_user
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.36.0
- Affected Plugin
- YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium
- Affected Version
<= 3.35.0- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE-2026-14359
At a glance
CVE-2026-14359 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.35.0. 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 3.36.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2026, reported by Michele Genito.
Vulnerability Overview
The YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 3.35.0. This is due to the add_user_in_waiting_list() function registered on the wp_ajax_yith_wcwtl_add_user action being missing both a capability check and a nonce verification, and using parse_str() + extract() to import attacker-controlled variables from $_POST['params'] that are then passed to wp_create_user() and $user->set_role(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to elevate their privileges to that of an administrator by creating a new user account and assigning it the administrator role.
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
YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium <= 3.35.0 carries this weakness at params, and reaching it 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 YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium the fix is 3.36.0: builds <= 3.35.0 are affected, anything from 3.36.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.36.0, 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: YITH WooCommerce Waitlist Premium 3.36.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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