CVE-2026-45436
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 · uneditedSubscriber Broken Access Control in WPBakery Page Builder <= 8.7.2 versions.
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 confidenceThis is a broken access control vulnerability in WPBakery Page Builder where Subscriber-level users can bypass authorization checks to access administrative functionality they should not have. The plugin fails to properly validate user roles before allowing access to privileged operations, allowing low-privilege users to interact with protected features.
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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify WPBakery Page Builder is installedCheck for the plugin directory wp-content/plugins/js_composer or look for WPBakery Page Builder in WordPress admin under PluginsAffected if Plugin is not installed
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Determine the installed versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins and find WPBakery Page Builder to read the version number, or open the main plugin file (e.g., js_composer.php) and locate the Version headerAffected if Version is below 8.7.3 (the fixed release)
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Confirm Subscriber role users existIn WordPress admin, go to Users and check if any users have the Subscriber role, or query the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables for Subscriber-level accountsAffected if Subscriber role users exist in the system
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Test if Subscriber users can access privileged featuresLog in as a Subscriber user and attempt to access WPBakery backend features that should be restricted to higher roles, such as the visual editor backend, role manager settings, or template editing interfacesAffected if Subscriber users can access features that require administrator or editor privileges
Environment is affected if WPBakery Page Builder version is below 8.7.3 AND Subscriber role users exist AND those subscribers can bypass authorization to access protected plugin functionality
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedUpgrade WPBakery Page Builder to version 8.7.3 or later to obtain the security patch that properly enforces role-based access controls for Subscriber users.
Latest stable WPBakery Page Builder release (version newer than 8.7.2)
- Check current WPBakery Page Builder version installed on the WordPress site
- Log in to WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Find WPBakery Page Builder in the plugin list
- If update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the latest version
- Alternatively, download the latest version from the official WordPress repository or WPBakery website and upload via Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
- After update, verify the version number matches the latest stable release which contains the security fix
- Test that subscriber users cannot access admin-level features as expected post-update
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-45436 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-45436 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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