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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2026-12224

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-01
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 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 Dokan Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via update_capabilities REST Endpoint in all versions up to, and including, 5.0.4. This is due to the `update_capabilities()` REST handler accepting arbitrary capability strings from the request body and passing them directly to WP_User::add_cap() with no allowlist validation, only verifying that the caller holds the dokandar capability. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with a self-provisioned Vendor-level access and above, on sites with the Vendor Staff module enabled, to grant arbitrary WordPress capabilities, including administrator, to any vendor_staff account, leading to a full site takeover.

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 Dokan Pro plugin's REST endpoint `update_capabilities()` accepts arbitrary capability strings from the request body and passes them directly to `WP_User::add_cap()` without any allowlist validation. The endpoint only verifies the caller holds the 'dokandar' capability, allowing authenticated attackers with Vendor-level access to grant any WordPress capability (including administrator) to vendor_staff accounts when the Vendor Staff module is enabled.

MitigationImplement strict allowlist validation for capability names in the update_capabilities() handler, restricting to a predefined set of legitimate vendor_staff capabilities. Until a patch is available, disable the Vendor Staff module if not required, and remove the 'dokandar' capability from untrusted user roles.

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. Identify Dokan Pro version
    Check the installed Dokan Pro version via WordPress plugin admin, plugin file header, or database wp_options entry where option_name contains 'dokan' and 'version'. Compare against any known affected version range.
    Affected if Dokan Pro is installed and running an affected version.
  2. Verify Vendor Staff module is enabled
    Navigate to Dokan Pro settings in WordPress admin, or inspect the WordPress options table for a 'dokan_modules' or similar option that tracks enabled Dokan modules. Look for the Vendor Staff module entry.
    Affected if The Vendor Staff module is currently enabled in Dokan Pro settings.
  3. Identify users with 'dokandar' capability
    Query the WordPress database (wp_usermeta table) for meta_key containing 'capabilities' and meta_value including 'dokandar', or use WP CLI: wp user list --role=dokan_vendor or wp user list --all | grep dokandar. Review the list for untrusted or low-privilege vendor accounts.
    Affected if There are user accounts possessing the 'dokandar' capability that are not fully trusted administrators.
  4. Confirm REST API endpoint is accessible
    Test a POST request to the Dokan REST endpoint (typically /wp-json/dokan/v1/vendor-capabilities or similar path under /wp-json/dokan/) with a test capability in the request body, or inspect the plugin's REST route registration files to verify the update_capabilities() endpoint is registered and not disabled.
    Affected if The vulnerable REST endpoint is registered and reachable without additional access restrictions.

A user is affected if they run a vulnerable Dokan Pro version with the Vendor Staff module enabled and have untrusted accounts with the 'dokandar' capability able to access the update_capabilities REST endpoint.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict allowlist validation for capability names in the update_capabilities() handler, restricting to a predefined set of legitimate vendor_staff capabilities. Until a patch is available, disable the Vendor Staff module if not required, and remove the 'dokandar' capability from untrusted user roles.

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
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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-2026-12224 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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