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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2026-6228

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-15
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

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 Frontend Admin by DynamiApps plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to and including 3.28.36. This is due to insufficient authorization checks in the role field update mechanism combined with overly permissive capabilities for the admin_form post type. The admin_form custom post type uses 'capability_type' => 'page', which grants editors the ability to create and edit forms. When an editor creates an edit_user form, they can manipulate the form configuration to include 'administrator' in the role_options array by directly submitting POST data to wp-admin/post.php, bypassing the UI restrictions in feadmin_get_user_roles(). When the form is subsequently submitted, the pre_update_value() function in class-role.php only validates that the submitted role exists in the form's role_options array (lines 107-110), but fails to verify that the current user has permission to assign that specific role. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to first register as editors (via a public new_user form), then create an edit_user form with administrator in the allowed roles, and finally use that form to escalate their own privileges to administrator.

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 Frontend Admin plugin for WordPress has a privilege escalation vulnerability where insufficient authorization checks in the role field update mechanism allow editors to manipulate form configurations to include 'administrator' in the role_options array. The pre_update_value() function in class-role.php only validates that the submitted role exists in the form's role_options array but fails to verify the current user has permission to assign that specific role, enabling editors to escalate their own privileges to administrator.

MitigationImplement proper capability checks in the pre_update_value() function to verify the current user has permission to assign the requested role, and restrict which users can create/edit admin_form post types with user role manipulation capabilities.

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. Check Frontend Admin plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate Frontend Admin. Compare the version number to 3.28.37
    Affected if Installed version is lower than 3.28.37
  2. Verify admin_form post type exists
    Query the database or use WP CLI: wp post-type list | grep admin_form, or check $wp_post_types global for 'admin_form' key
    Affected if The admin_form post type is registered on the site
  3. Confirm non-administrators can access admin_form functionality
    Check user roles with edit_admin_form or create_admin_form capabilities. Use WP CLI: wp role list --fields=name,capabilities | grep -i admin_form, or inspect role capabilities directly
    Affected if Editor or lower roles have capabilities to create or edit admin_form posts
  4. Inspect admin_form posts for role_options containing administrator
    Query wp_posts where post_type=admin_form and examine the post_content or meta for role_options arrays. Use SQL: SELECT ID, post_title FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type='admin_form' AND post_content LIKE '%administrator%'
    Affected if Any admin_form post contains 'administrator' in role_options array
  5. Review recent post.php submissions from non-administrators
    Check access logs or WordPress audit logs for POST requests to wp-admin/post.php with admin_form post_type and role-related parameters
    Affected if Editors or authors have submitted forms that modified user roles via admin_form

A site is affected if the Frontend Admin plugin version is below 3.28.37 AND the admin_form post type is accessible to users without administrator privileges, allowing potential privilege escalation.

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 proper capability checks in the pre_update_value() function to verify the current user has permission to assign the requested role, and restrict which users can create/edit admin_form post types with user role manipulation capabilities.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,820
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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-2026-6228 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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