{"id":"CVE-2026-77203","revision":"dcb3e83fab9e4356afedf1f43d0077a3","records":[{"revision":"dcb3e83fab9e4356afedf1f43d0077a3","observedAt":"2026-10-23T15:48:27.903+00:00","statement":{"source":"cve-program","id":"CVE-2026-77203","aliases":[],"title":"Groups <= 4.6.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via 'groups_join' Shortcode","description":"The Groups – Memberships and Access Control plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 4.6.0. This is due to the groups_join() function deriving group-join eligibility from the ambient post's author capabilities via the global $post->post_author rather than from the currently authenticated user's own capabilities, while simultaneously minting and returning a valid groups-join-data hash and WordPress nonce for the caller in the same response — eliminating all authorization barriers to self-enrollment. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to enroll themselves into any group including privileged groups carrying the groups_admin_groups capability, and to subsequently create and join a group containing every registered WordPress capability, effectively escalating their privileges to Administrator. Exploitation requires the attacker to supply an Administrator-authored post ID via the post_ID parameter of the authenticated wp_ajax_parse_media_shortcode handler in order to establish the privileged ambient post context used by the flawed authorization check.","state":0,"publishedAt":"2026-09-26T17:28:59.609+00:00","modifiedAt":"2026-09-26T22:51:17.071+00:00","affected":[{"ecosystem":"Vendor product","name":"Groups – Memberships and Access Control","ranges":[],"versions":[],"rawVersionEvidence":"{\n                    \"vendor\": \"itthinx\",\n                    \"product\": \"Groups – Memberships and Access Control\",\n                    \"versions\": [\n                        {\n                            \"version\": \"0\",\n                            \"status\": \"affected\",\n                            \"lessThanOrEqual\": \"4.6.0\",\n                            \"versionType\": \"semver\"\n                        }\n                    ],\n                    \"defaultStatus\": \"unaffected\"\n                }"}],"metrics":[{"system":"CVSS 3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","score":8.8,"severity":"HIGH"}],"references":["https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e86dddc9-c1d3-426b-8ec7-2e56dc3c2379?source=cve","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L586","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L624","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L463","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/wp/class-groups-wordpress.php#L248","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L521","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3693123/groups"],"sourceUrl":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-77203","license":"CVE Program Terms of Use","key":"cve-program:CVE-2026-77203","identifiers":["CVE-2026-77203"]},"retained":false,"historicalAffected":[]}],"coverage":[]}