dbcve.org
Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2026-0844

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-28
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
The Simple User Registration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 6.7 due to insufficient restriction on the 'profile_save_field' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with minimal permissions such as a subscriber, to modify their user role by supplying the 'wp_capabilities' parameter during a profile update.

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 · high confidence

The Simple User Registration WordPress plugin (versions up to 6.7) lacks proper access controls in its profile_save_field function, allowing authenticated subscribers to supply the wp_capabilities parameter during profile updates and escalate their privileges to administrator or other higher-privileged roles.

MitigationUpdate to version 6.8 or later once available; alternatively, disable the plugin or remove user registration capabilities from low-privilege accounts until patched.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Simple User Registration plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin > Plugins, or inspect wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'simple-user-registration' or similar variant
    Affected if The plugin folder exists and the plugin is active
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for the Simple User Registration entry to read its version number; alternatively, open the main plugin PHP file and check the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block
    Affected if Version is 6.7 or lower
  3. Confirm WordPress user registration is enabled
    Go to WordPress admin > Settings > General > 'Membership' setting and check 'Anyone can register' is ticked, and verify the 'New User Default Role' is set to 'Subscriber'
    Affected if User registration is enabled with Subscriber as the default role
  4. Identify existing subscriber-level accounts
    In WordPress admin > Users, filter or search for users with the 'Subscriber' role; alternatively, query the wp_usermeta table where meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' and meta_value contains 'subscriber'
    Affected if There are one or more subscriber accounts in the system
  5. Check if profile updates allow capability modification
    As a test (in a non-production environment), attempt to update a subscriber profile via the plugin's profile_save_field function, supplying a wp_capabilities parameter with an administrator role value; observe whether the update succeeds and grants elevated privileges
    Affected if The wp_capabilities parameter can be modified by a subscriber user during profile update

A user is affected if the Simple User Registration plugin version is 6.7 or lower, user registration is enabled with subscriber as the default role, and low-privilege subscriber accounts exist in the system.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to version 6.8 or later once available; alternatively, disable the plugin or remove user registration capabilities from low-privilege accounts until patched.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Simple User Registration plugin version 6.8 or later

  1. Backup your WordPress site database and files before making any changes
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in WordPress admin dashboard
  3. Locate the Simple User Registration plugin
  4. Check the current installed version to confirm it is 6.7 or below
  5. If vulnerable, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version if an update is available
  6. Alternatively, download the latest version from wordpress.org/plugins/simple-user-registration and upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
  7. After updating, verify the new version number in Plugins > Installed Plugins
  8. Test that users with subscriber role cannot modify their wp_capabilities parameter via profile updates

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-0844 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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