{
    "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
    "dataVersion": "5.2",
    "cveMetadata": {
        "cveId": "CVE-2026-77203",
        "assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
        "state": "PUBLISHED",
        "assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
        "dateReserved": "2026-08-20T18:03:15.864Z",
        "datePublished": "2026-09-26T17:28:59.609Z",
        "dateUpdated": "2026-09-26T17:28:59.609Z"
    },
    "containers": {
        "cna": {
            "providerMetadata": {
                "orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
                "shortName": "Wordfence",
                "dateUpdated": "2026-09-26T17:28:59.609Z"
            },
            "affected": [
                {
                    "vendor": "itthinx",
                    "product": "Groups – Memberships and Access Control",
                    "versions": [
                        {
                            "version": "0",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "lessThanOrEqual": "4.6.0",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        }
                    ],
                    "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
                }
            ],
            "descriptions": [
                {
                    "lang": "en",
                    "value": "The Groups – Memberships and Access Control plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 4.6.0. This is due to the groups_join() function deriving group-join eligibility from the ambient post's author capabilities via the global $post->post_author rather than from the currently authenticated user's own capabilities, while simultaneously minting and returning a valid groups-join-data hash and WordPress nonce for the caller in the same response — eliminating all authorization barriers to self-enrollment. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to enroll themselves into any group including privileged groups carrying the groups_admin_groups capability, and to subsequently create and join a group containing every registered WordPress capability, effectively escalating their privileges to Administrator. Exploitation requires the attacker to supply an Administrator-authored post ID via the post_ID parameter of the authenticated wp_ajax_parse_media_shortcode handler in order to establish the privileged ambient post context used by the flawed authorization check."
                }
            ],
            "title": "Groups <= 4.6.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via 'groups_join' Shortcode",
            "references": [
                {
                    "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e86dddc9-c1d3-426b-8ec7-2e56dc3c2379?source=cve"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L586"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L624"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L463"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/wp/class-groups-wordpress.php#L248"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groups/tags/4.5.0/lib/views/class-groups-shortcodes.php#L521"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3693123/groups"
                }
            ],
            "problemTypes": [
                {
                    "descriptions": [
                        {
                            "lang": "en",
                            "description": "CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management",
                            "cweId": "CWE-269",
                            "type": "CWE"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "metrics": [
                {
                    "cvssV3_1": {
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
                        "baseScore": 8.8,
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH"
                    }
                }
            ],
            "credits": [
                {
                    "lang": "en",
                    "type": "finder",
                    "value": "daroo"
                }
            ],
            "timeline": [
                {
                    "time": "2026-09-26T04:34:00.000Z",
                    "lang": "en",
                    "value": "Disclosed"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}