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Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2026-27983

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-05
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

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
Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in designthemes LMS Elementor Pro lms-elementor-pro allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects LMS Elementor Pro: from n/a through <= 1.0.4.

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

This is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the designthemes LMS Elementor Pro WordPress plugin. The Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability allows lower-privileged users (such as subscribers or students) to perform administrative or higher-privileged actions they should not have access to, likely due to missing or improper capability checks in the plugin's functionality.

MitigationUpdate to the latest version of LMS Elementor Pro if available. If no patched version exists, temporarily disable the plugin or restrict access to trusted administrators only until a fix is released.

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 LMS Elementor Pro plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'LMS Elementor Pro' or 'designthemes LMS Elementor Pro'. Alternatively, check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder containing 'lms-elementor-pro' or 'designthemes-lms-elementor'.
    Affected if The plugin is installed and active in WordPress.
  2. Determine the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, click on the plugin name in the Plugins list to view its details, or inspect the main plugin PHP file (usually in the plugin root folder) for a 'Version:' header in the plugin comment block. Compare this version against any official changelog or security advisory for the plugin.
    Affected if The installed version is older than the patched version or if no patch information is available.
  3. Review WordPress user roles for unauthorized administrator accounts
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and examine the list for any admin accounts you did not create. Pay special attention to accounts created recently or with unfamiliar email addresses. Export the user list and check user_register timestamps.
    Affected if There are administrator accounts that you did not create or that appeared recently without your knowledge.
  4. Inspect user capabilities and role assignments
    Use a plugin or WP-CLI command 'wp user list --role=administrator' to list all admin users. Manually cross-reference against expected personnel. Also check via database: SELECT user_id, meta_key, meta_value FROM wp_usermeta WHERE meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' AND meta_value LIKE '%administrator%';
    Affected if There are more administrator accounts recorded than there should be, or accounts associated with unknown users.
  5. Check for suspicious capability escalation
    Review the wp_usermeta table for users with elevated capabilities that were not assigned through normal WordPress role management. Look for meta_key values like 'wp_capabilities' that contain unexpected roles, or 'wp_user_level' values greater than expected for non-admin users.
    Affected if Low-privileged users have been assigned administrator-level capabilities in the database.

A user is affected if the LMS Elementor Pro plugin is installed and active, and either the version is unpatched or unauthorized administrator accounts exist in the WordPress user database.

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

Update to the latest version of LMS Elementor Pro if available. If no patched version exists, temporarily disable the plugin or restrict access to trusted administrators only until a fix is released.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2026-27983 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
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