CVE-2026-116624: Privilege Escalation (CVSS 8.8)

Description

The Advanced Members for ACF plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.3.0 via the `acf[_amem_local_user_password]` parameter of the `[advanced-members-account-password]` shortcode form submission. This is due to a PHP operator-precedence bug in the `pre_update_value` function of `acf/fields/class-user-password.php` that assigns boolean `true` instead of the resolved user ID to `$user_id`, causing the `_can_edit()` authorization check to pass for any logged-in user via PHP loose equality, and causing `wp_update_user()` to cast `'ID' => true` to integer `1` — unconditionally targeting the primary administrator account. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to overwrite the password of user ID 1 (the site's primary administrator) with an attacker-chosen value, granting full administrative access to the site. The intended exclusion guard in `Account::process` that strips the password field before saving is defeated because `amem_save_all_fields()` re-reads the full field list from `amem()->submission` and silently overwrites the caller-supplied excluded fields array with an empty array, ensuring the password field is always processed.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

8.8

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0050

Probability of exploitation

0.43%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

Weakness Type (CWE)

CWE-269 CWE-269

References

Other References

https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/advanced-members/trunk/ https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/advanced-members/tags/1.3.0/acf/fields/base/trait-amem-field.php#L30 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/advanced-members/tags/1.3.0/acf/fields/class-user-password.php#L117 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/advanced-members/tags/1.3.0/core/actions/account.php#L227 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/advanced-members/tags/1.3.0/core/functions-forms.php#L105 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3779180/advanced-members/trunk/acf/fields/class-user-password.php https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/6fc38f0b-bf13-4d01-a4b3-38a43fc726d6?source=cve

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-116624? +

The Advanced Members for ACF plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.3.0 via the `acf[_amem_local_user_password]` parameter of the `[advanced-members-account-password]` shortcode form submission. This is due to a PHP operator-precedence bug in the `pre_update_value` function of `acf/fields/class-user-password.php` that assigns boolean `true` instead of the resolved user ID to `$user_id`, causing the `_can_edit()` authorization check to pass for any logged-in user via PHP loose equality, and causing `wp_update_user()` to cast `'ID' => true` to integer `1` — unconditionally targeting the primary administrator account. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to overwrite the password of user ID 1 (the site's primary administrator) with an attacker-chosen value, granting full administrative access to the site. The intended exclusion guard in `Account::process` that strips the password field before saving is defeated because `amem_save_all_fields()` re-reads the full field list from `amem()->submission` and silently overwrites the caller-supplied excluded fields array with an empty array, ensuring the password field is always processed. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-116624? +

CVE-2026-116624 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 8.8 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0050, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-116624? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

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