Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-12165 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | Wordfence |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-06-17 13:19:57 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-06-17 14:44:26 UTC |
| Description | The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.8 HIGH from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.004080000 probability, percentile 0.324310000 (date 2026-06-23)
Problem Types: CWE-269 | CWE-269 CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 8.8 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | DECLARED | 8.8 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
LowUser Interaction
NoneScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Contest-gallery | Contest Gallery Upload Vote Photos Media Sell With PayPal Stripe | affected 30.0.2 semver | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/functions/google/cg-creat... | [email protected] | plugins.trac.wordpress.org | |
| plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/index.php | [email protected] | plugins.trac.wordpress.org | |
| plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/cha... | [email protected] | plugins.trac.wordpress.org | |
| www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/69b909da-b1b0-4dab-916c-90851... | [email protected] | www.wordfence.com | |
| plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset | [email protected] | plugins.trac.wordpress.org | |
| plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/cha... | [email protected] | plugins.trac.wordpress.org | |
| 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: Chloe Chamberland (en)
CNA: PRISM (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-06-12T19:49:28.000Z | Vendor Notified |
| CNA | 2026-06-16T20:57:12.000Z | Disclosed |
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.