MonarchWordPress extension · Elegantthemes
CVE-2016-11004
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe Elegant Themes Monarch plugin before 1.2.7 for WordPress has privilege escalation.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe Elegant Themes Monarch plugin for WordPress versions prior to 1.2.7 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows attackers to gain elevated user privileges beyond what their account should normally permit.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
MonarchWordPress extension
< 1.2.7CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Monarch plugin is installedNavigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Elegant Themes Monarch' in the list, or check the /wp-content/plugins/monarch directory exists on the server filesystemAffected if The Monarch plugin appears in the installed plugins list or the plugin directory exists on the server
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Identify the installed Monarch versionIn WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, find the Monarch plugin and locate the version number displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, open /wp-content/plugins/monarch/monarch.php and look for the 'Version:' header in the plugin commentsAffected if The displayed version number is lower than 1.2.7, or no version is displayed (indicating a very old installation)
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Verify the plugin is activeIn WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, check if the Monarch plugin has an 'Active' status under the plugin name, or query the wp_options table for option_name = 'monarch_active'Affected if The plugin is installed AND active (inactive plugins cannot be exploited)
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Review user accounts for unexpected privilege escalationIn WordPress Admin > Users, examine all user accounts and check for: (1) users with Administrator role who did not create the account, (2) users with modified capabilities, (3) users added by unknown parties. Check wp_usermeta table for users with meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' containing 'administrator' that you do not recognizeAffected if Any user account exists with elevated privileges that was not created by a known administrator, or if the total number of Administrator accounts exceeds expectations
The environment is affected if the Monarch plugin is installed, active, and the installed version is below 1.2.7, or if unauthorized administrator accounts are found in the WordPress users table.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor data1.2.7
Update the Monarch plugin to version 1.2.7 or later. Review user accounts and privilege assignments after the update.
Fix this in Monarch
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-11004 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-11004 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data