WP Post Author <= 3.9.1 - Authenticated (Author+) SQL Injection

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-11977
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerWordfence
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-08-05 08:16:30 UTC
Updated2026-08-12 21:00:37 UTC
DescriptionThe WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via the 'wpma_metabox_authors_list' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 3.9.1 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. Exploitation is a two-step chain: an attacker first saves a crafted guest-author token via the wpma_metabox_authors_list parameter during post creation or editing, then triggers the injection when any admin user loads the post list screen at /wp-admin/edit.php, causing the injected SQL result to be rendered in the Authors column.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 6.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.002490000 probability, percentile 0.163520000 (date 2026-08-14)

Problem Types: CWE-89 | CWE-89 CWE-89 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED6.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Afthemes WP Post Author Author Box Multiple Authors Guest Authors Custom Avatars affected 3.9.1 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-post-author/trunk/includes/multi-authors/wpa-multi... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-post-author/trunk/includes/multi-authors/wpa-multi... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wp-post-author/trunk/includes/multi-authors/wpa-multi... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ca5cb925-6f95-4f81-92d0-5f3c8... [email protected] www.wordfence.com
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: Ryoma Nishioka (en)

Additional Advisory Data

SourceTimeEvent
CNA2026-06-18T16:38:25.000ZVendor Notified
CNA2026-08-04T19:33:14.000ZDisclosed

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