Import and export users and customers <= 2.4.17 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via CSV Escape-Character Mismatch in Export/Import Round Trip via display_name and nickname Profile Fields

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-86583
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerWordfence
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-09-23 22:16:59 UTC
Updated2026-09-24 14:42:02 UTC
DescriptionThe Import and export users and customers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.17 via the plugin's own export and re-import workflow. The vulnerability exists because the exporter writes CSV cells using fputcsv() with a NUL byte (\0) as the escape character, while the importer parses the same file using SplFileObject::fgetcsv() with only a single delimiter argument, causing PHP's default backslash escape character to be applied instead; because the export column layout places display_name immediately before the role column and nickname immediately after, an attacker can store crafted values in those two profile fields — saved by WordPress core via the standard profile page — such that the escape mismatch causes the parser to merge the display_name cell into the role field and rebalance the column count via nickname, yielding administrator as the parsed role for their own row when it reaches the import_user function's add_role function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or above to escalate their privileges to Administrator. Exploitation requires a site administrator to trigger the plugin's documented export re-import migration with both "Update existing users" and "Update roles for existing users" set to "yes".

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: 0.003330000 probability, percentile 0.239050000 (date 2026-09-24)

Problem Types: CWE-266 | CWE-266 CWE-266 Incorrect Privilege Assignment

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary8.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED8.8HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

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

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Carazo Import And Export Users And Customers affected 2.4.17 semver Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/i... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/i... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3687349/import-users-from-csv-with-meta [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/h... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/i... [email protected] plugins.trac.wordpress.org
www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/5b0f3444-4c10-45ce-a00b-4ed60... [email protected] www.wordfence.com
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/b... [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: khanhnv (en)

Additional Advisory Data

SourceTimeEvent
CNA2026-09-08T07:09:00.000ZVendor Notified
CNA2026-09-23T09:27:14.000ZDisclosed

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