CVE-2026-75927

PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.50.0 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation to Fresh-Install Default Capability Grant

HIGH
7.2
CVSS Score
Published: September 9, 2026 at 07:40 AM UTC
Updated: September 11, 2026 at 09:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorCapabilities

Using User Role Editor – PublishPress Capabilities: Access Control and User Roles by publishpress?

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Severity
HIGH7.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.6%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The PublishPress Capabilities – User Role Editor, Access Permissions, User Capabilities, Admin Menus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.50.0. This is due to the `addPluginCapabilities()` function unconditionally granting the Editor role all 15 `manage_capabilities_*` capabilities — including `manage_capabilities`, `manage_capabilities_roles`, `manage_capabilities_settings`, and `manage_capabilities_backup` — via a hard-coded `$eligible_roles = ['administrator', 'editor']` assignment that runs automatically on the first `admin_init` after plugin activation with no administrator opt-in, persisting the grants directly to the database. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Editor-level access to elevate their privileges to a site-wide capability manager, enabling them to create, rename, and delete non-system roles, modify capabilities of non-administrator roles, restore role backups, and write arbitrary plugin options whose names begin with `cme_`, `capsman`, `pp_capabilities`, or `presspermit` via `update_option()`. The escalation stops short of full Administrator access, as WordPress's `map_meta_cap` layer still prevents the escalated Editor from granting administrator-only capabilities to other roles; however, all role-management and plugin-settings functionality gated solely on `manage_capabilities_*` capabilities remains fully accessible.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

60%
v ≤ 2.50.0

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.2HIGHWordfence
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-269

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