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Incorrect Privilege AssignmentWeakness · CWE-266

CVE-2026-42731

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-27
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 miniOrange miniorange otp verification miniorange-otp-verification allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects miniorange otp verification: from n/a through <= 5.4.9.

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

A privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the miniOrange OTP verification WordPress plugin (versions through 5.4.9) due to incorrect privilege assignment. The vulnerability allows authenticated attackers to escalate their privileges beyond what their assigned role should permit, potentially gaining administrative access. The CVSS 9.8 indicates this is remotely exploitable with no user interaction required.

MitigationUpgrade the miniOrange OTP verification plugin to a version beyond 5.4.9 that addresses the incorrect privilege assignment. If no patched version is available, consider disabling the plugin until a fix is released, or implement additional access controls at the web application firewall level.

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. Verify miniOrange OTP plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins and look for 'miniOrange OTP verification' in the installed plugins list, or check the /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder containing 'miniorange' or 'otp' in the name
    Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Determine installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins, find miniOrange OTP verification and read the version number displayed beneath the plugin name. Alternatively, check the main plugin PHP file for the 'Version' header comment in the plugin metadata
    Affected if The version number is 5.4.9 or lower
  3. Confirm authenticated user access exists
    Review WordPress user list (Users > All Users) to identify any registered users on the site. The vulnerability requires an authenticated attacker, so check for any user accounts beyond the administrator account
    Affected if There are one or more user accounts registered on the WordPress site
  4. Inspect user role assignments
    Check each user account's assigned role by clicking on the user and reviewing the 'Role' field. Look for users with roles that appear to have capabilities beyond what that role typically provides, or check user_meta tables for unexpected capability assignments
    Affected if Any user has privileges or capabilities that exceed what their assigned role should normally permit

A user is affected if the miniOrange OTP verification plugin version is 5.4.9 or lower AND there is at least one authenticated user account on the WordPress site.

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

Upgrade the miniOrange OTP verification plugin to a version beyond 5.4.9 that addresses the incorrect privilege assignment. If no patched version is available, consider disabling the plugin until a fix is released, or implement additional access controls at the web application firewall level.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest version after 5.4.9 (check WordPress plugin repository for current release)

  1. 1. Log in to WordPress admin dashboard
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. 3. Find 'miniOrange OTP Verification' plugin
  4. 4. Check the current version number displayed under the plugin name
  5. 5. If current version is <= 5.4.9, click 'Update Now' if an update is available
  6. 6. If no update is available in WordPress, manually download the latest version from the WordPress plugin repository or miniOrange website
  7. 7. Deactivate the current plugin version
  8. 8. Delete the current plugin files
Caveat Review plugin settings after upgrade as configuration may need reconfiguration

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,460
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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-2026-42731 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
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