Pods <= 3.3.9 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass to Admin Methods via 'pods_admin' AJAX Router

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-19598
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerWordfence
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-08-15 18:16:23 UTC
Updated2026-08-20 12:48:10 UTC
DescriptionThe Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.9. The vulnerability exists because the pods_admin AJAX router funnels every access check — including the method allowlist, nonce verification, login enforcement, and capability gate — through pods_error(), which under the JSON meta-box-loader compatibility path only writes failures to the PHP error log and returns false instead of terminating the request, rendering all guards ineffective. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges to Administrator or overwrite the password of any user account, including the site owner's, enabling complete site takeover, or perform another administrator action.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.8 CRITICAL from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.004270000 probability, percentile 0.358330000 (date 2026-08-20)

Problem Types: CWE-863 | CWE-863 CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary9.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED9.8CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

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

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 2.8 2.8.23.3 semver Not specified
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 2.9 2.9.19.3 semver Not specified
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 3.0 3.0.10.3 semver Not specified
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 3.1 3.1.4.1 semver Not specified
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 3.2 3.2.8.2 semver Not specified
CNA Sc0ttkclark Pods Custom Content Types And Fields affected 3.3 3.3.9 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pods/tags/3.3.9/includes/general.php [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3628032a-3121-45a7-8a78-cfcd8... [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: Nhien Pham (nhienit) (en)

CNA: thevietronin (en)

Additional Advisory Data

SourceTimeEvent
CNA2026-08-12T14:04:04.000ZVendor Notified
CNA2026-08-15T04:54:21.000ZDisclosed

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