CVE-2026-5118
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 · uneditedThe Divi Form Builder plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 5.1.2. This is due to the plugin accepting a user-controlled 'role' parameter from POST data during user registration without validating it against the form's configured default_user_role setting. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create administrator accounts by tampering with the role parameter during registration.
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 confidenceThe Divi Form Builder plugin for WordPress allows user registration through forms, but fails to validate the user-supplied 'role' parameter against the form's configured default_user_role setting. This allows unauthenticated attackers to register as administrators by sending a crafted POST request with role=administrator.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Divi Form Builder versionIn WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Divi Form Builder' in the list. The version number is displayed below the plugin name. Alternatively, check the plugin main PHP file (usually in /wp-content/plugins/divi-form-builder/) for the 'Version' header in the file comments.Affected if The installed version is 5.1.2 or earlier.
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Check for active user registration formsNavigate to Divi > Form Builder in the WordPress admin. Review all forms and identify any that have user registration functionality enabled (this is typically configured in the form's settings under a 'User Registration' or 'Create User' module).Affected if Any Divi Form Builder form with user registration enabled is present, regardless of version.
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Inspect default_user_role configurationEdit each user registration-enabled form and locate the 'Default User Role' or 'default_user_role' setting in the form configuration. Note whether the setting can be overridden or if it defaults to a high-privilege role like Administrator.Affected if The form's default_user_role is set to Administrator or can be overridden via the POST 'role' parameter.
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Audit WordPress user accounts for unauthorized administratorsGo to Users > All Users in WordPress admin. Review the list of users with Administrator role. Check user registration dates and email addresses for anything suspicious or unexpected. Cross-reference with server access logs for registration POST requests around the time of account creation.Affected if There are administrator accounts you did not create, especially with recent registration dates or suspicious email domains.
You are affected if Divi Form Builder version 5.1.2 or earlier is installed AND user registration forms are enabled, regardless of default_user_role configuration, as the vulnerability allows role parameter tampering to create administrator accounts.
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.
From vendor dataUpdate the Divi Form Builder plugin to a version newer than 5.1.2, then audit existing user accounts for unauthorized administrator accounts created before the patch.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-5118 — 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-2026-5118 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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- 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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