{"id":"CVE-2026-85659","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2026-85659","generatedAt":"2026-10-28T03:27:41.704Z","title":"The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43.","description":"The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the `update_cc_details()` AJAX handler forwards an attacker-supplied `username` parameter to ONTRAPORT via `api_call('update_cc_details', ...)` before performing the local `username_exists()` collision check, and aborts without rolling back the remote rename when a collision is detected — leaving the remote ONTRAPORT contact renamed to an existing WordPress Administrator's login. On a subsequent login attempt, `user_login()` (hooked to `wp_authenticate`) authenticates against ONTRAPORT using the renamed login and the attacker's own password, resolves the local WordPress user row via `get_user_by('login', $username)` — which now selects the real Administrator's row — and calls `wp_set_password()` against that Administrator's user ID; because the `user_level != 10` guard only suppresses PilotPress's own cookie issuance rather than returning a `WP_Error` to core, WordPress proceeds to validate the newly-synchronized password and issues a full Administrator authentication cookie to the attacker. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above — specifically any PilotPress member holding a valid ONTRAPORT contact and the Customer Center nonce — to fully take over an Administrator account.","published":"2026-10-16T06:17:11.000Z","lastModified":"2026-10-16T15:17:33.000Z","status":"Deferred","sourceIdentifier":"security@wordfence.com","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"},"cwe":["CWE-269"],"affected":[],"epss":{"score":0.00356,"percentile":0.29094,"date":"2026-10-26","history":[{"date":"2026-10-16","score":0.00367,"percentile":0.28985}]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.36%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[{"kind":"new","label":"New CVE","at":"2026-10-16T06:17:11.000Z","detail":{"score":"8.8","severity":"HIGH","publishedAt":"2026-10-16T06:17:11.493Z"},"summary":"New CVE, high severity (CVSS 8.8)."}],"references":[{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1029","source":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1099","source":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1690","source":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L2380","source":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3737004","source":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ceee48dd-72a7-49c3-90d5-7af1a30f9ecb?source=cve","source":"security@wordfence.com"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85659","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}