Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2026-12153

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click 7 weeks old

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 WP Learn Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.8. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins from the WordPress.org repository on the vulnerable site.

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 confidence

The WP Learn Manager WordPress plugin (versions up to 1.1.8) contains an authorization bypass vulnerability that fails to properly verify user capabilities before allowing plugin installation and activation actions. This enables unauthenticated attackers to remotely install and activate any plugin from the WordPress.org repository, effectively granting them full site control.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to the latest version as soon as a patch is released. If no patch is available, remove the plugin entirely or implement WAF rules to block unauthenticated requests to plugin installation/activation endpoints.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm WP Learn Manager plugin is installed
    Log into WordPress admin and navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, or check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder named 'wp-learn-manager' or similar.
    Affected if The plugin is present in the WordPress installation.
  2. Identify the installed version
    In WordPress admin, find WP Learn Manager in the plugins list and note the version number displayed. Alternatively, open the main plugin file (e.g., wp-learn-manager.php) and locate the 'Version' header in the file comments.
    Affected if The version is 1.1.8 or lower.
  3. Verify plugin is active
    In WordPress admin > Plugins, confirm whether WP Learn Manager is currently activated. An inactive plugin may still pose less risk depending on the attack vector.
    Affected if The plugin is activated and running.
  4. Check for unauthorized newly-installed plugins
    Review the list of all installed plugins and look for any unfamiliar or recently-added plugins that you did not intentionally install. Check plugin installation dates if available.
    Affected if There are plugins present that you did not authorize or install.
  5. Review access to plugin installation endpoints
    Examine server access logs for unauthenticated POST requests to /wp-admin/update.php or /wp-admin/plugin-install.php endpoints. Also check if the site allows unauthenticated access to WordPress AJAX actions related to plugin installation.
    Affected if Unauthenticated requests to plugin installation/activation endpoints are possible or were logged.

Your environment is affected if WP Learn Manager plugin version 1.1.8 or lower is installed and active, allowing unauthenticated users to install or activate arbitrary plugins.

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 the plugin to the latest version as soon as a patch is released. If no patch is available, remove the plugin entirely or implement WAF rules to block unauthenticated requests to plugin installation/activation endpoints.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

WP Learn Manager version 1.1.9 or later

  1. 1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Locate the WP Learn Manager plugin
  4. 4. Check if an update is available for the plugin
  5. 5. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
  6. 6. Alternatively, navigate to Dashboard > Updates and check for plugin updates
  7. 7. After updating, verify the plugin is functioning correctly

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,800
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,080.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-12153 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-12153 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data