CVE-2026-18467: Privilege Escalation (CVSS 9.8)

Description

The Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 5.0.3. The 5.0.3 patch introduced a wp_hash()/hash_equals() signature gate on the pt-paytium-user-data field, but left a second filter — pt_cf_checkout_meta(), registered on the pt_meta_values hook after the signed builder — that copies every $_POST['pt_form_field'][*] key verbatim into the payment meta array without any signature verification; this allows the pt-user-role value it copies to overwrite the signed path's output, after which paytium_user_data_processing() reads the persisted _pt-user-role post meta and passes it directly as the role argument to wp_insert_user(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a new WordPress account with the administrator role and fully take over the site. Exploitation requires submitting a payment through a publicly-exposed [paytium] shortcode form and completing the resulting payment flow, after which the attacker can seize the new administrator account via the standard lost-password flow on their supplied email address.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

9.8

CRITICAL

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

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0039

Probability of exploitation

0.32%

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.trac.wordpress.org/browser/paytium/tags/5.0.3/includes/payment-functions.php#L113 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/paytium/tags/5.0.3/includes/process-payment-functions.php#L1103 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/paytium/tags/5.0.3/includes/process-payment-functions.php#L21 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/paytium/tags/5.0.3/includes/process-payment-functions.php#L696 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/paytium/tags/5.0.3/includes/user-data-functions.php#L214 https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3678569/paytium https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/caa1a42a-6bb2-42c8-aae7-fb1c895573a8?source=cve

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-18467? +

The Paytium: Mollie payment forms & donations plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 5.0.3. The 5.0.3 patch introduced a wp_hash()/hash_equals() signature gate on the pt-paytium-user-data field, but left a second filter — pt_cf_checkout_meta(), registered on the pt_meta_values hook after the signed builder — that copies every $_POST['pt_form_field'][*] key verbatim into the payment meta array without any signature verification; this allows the pt-user-role value it copies to overwrite the signed path's output, after which paytium_user_data_processing() reads the persisted _pt-user-role post meta and passes it directly as the role argument to wp_insert_user(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a new WordPress account with the administrator role and fully take over the site. Exploitation requires submitting a payment through a publicly-exposed [paytium] shortcode form and completing the resulting payment flow, after which the attacker can seize the new administrator account via the standard lost-password flow on their supplied email address. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

How severe is CVE-2026-18467? +

CVE-2026-18467 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8 out of 10, rated CRITICAL. This is a critical vulnerability that should be patched immediately. The EPSS score is 0.0039, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-18467? +

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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