{"id":"CVE-2026-85659","title":"The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43","summary":"The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the `update_cc_details()` AJAX handler forwards an attacker-sup…","severity":"high","cvss":8.8,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cwe":["CWE-269"],"vendor":"ontraport","product":"PilotPress","affected":["PilotPress <= 2.0.43"],"published":"2026-10-16","updated":"2026-10-16","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-16T15:17:33.300","source":"NVD","sourceUrl":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-85659","references":[{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1029","label":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1099","label":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L1690","label":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pilotpress/tags/2.0.39/pilotpress.php?rev=3642310#L2380","label":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3737004","label":"security@wordfence.com"},{"url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ceee48dd-72a7-49c3-90d5-7af1a30f9ecb?source=cve","label":"security@wordfence.com"}],"tags":["nvd","cve.org"],"epss":0.00356,"epssPercentile":0.29159,"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"total","timestamp":"2026-10-16T14:27:54.578795Z"},"ingestedAt":"2026-10-16T06:00:00.389Z","slug":"CVE-2026-85659","body":"## Overview\n\nThe PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the `update_cc_details()` AJAX handler forwards an attacker-supplied `username` parameter to ONTRAPORT via `api_call('update_cc_details', ...)` before performing the local `username_exists()` collision check, and aborts without rolling back the remote rename when a collision is detected — leaving the remote ONTRAPORT contact renamed to an existing WordPress Administrator's login. On a subsequent login attempt, `user_login()` (hooked to `wp_authenticate`) authenticates against ONTRAPORT using the renamed login and the attacker's own password, resolves the local WordPress user row via `get_user_by('login', $username)` — which now selects the real Administrator's row — and calls `wp_set_password()` against that Administrator's user ID; because the `user_level != 10` guard only suppresses PilotPress's own cookie issuance rather than returning a `WP_Error` to core, WordPress proceeds to validate the newly-synchronized password and issues a full Administrator authentication cookie to the attacker. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above — specifically any PilotPress member holding a valid ONTRAPORT contact and the Customer Center nonce — to fully take over an Administrator account.\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.","depth":"twilight","depthScore":48,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":48.4,"likelihood":0.1,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}