CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-119164NVD status: Deferred

wpForo Forum: Improper Privilege Management

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-119164 is a high-severity improper privilege management vulnerability in wpForo Forum from Tomdever, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. Affected wpForo Forum versions: 3.2.2 and earlier. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.38% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Check which version of wpForo Forum you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
TomdeverwpForo Forum3.2.2 and earlierNot stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
HighSuccess depends on conditions outside the attacker's control.
Privileges required
LowA basic user account is enough.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Scope
UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
Integrity
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (wordfence.com).

Official description

The wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.2 via the `data[secondary_groupids]` parameter of the `wpforo_action_profile_update` POST handler. This is due to a type-confusion flaw in the secondary_groupids authorization guard within the `Members::update()` function in `classes/Members.php`, where casting a scalar CSV string (e.g. `"0,1"`) with `(array)` before `array_map('intval', …)` and `array_filter()` produces an empty array — causing the guard's outer conditional, and the else-branch that would otherwise strip the field from the update, to be bypassed entirely — while `encode()`/`decode()` downstream correctly explodes the original CSV and persists the attacker-supplied group IDs to `wp_wpforo_profiles.secondary_groupids`. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their forum privileges to wpForo Administrator by injecting the privileged Admin group ID, granting access to the Forum Accesses editor and the ability to rewrite forum-wide capability policies for all members and edit arbitrary content owned by other users. Exploitation requires the attacker to have at least 3 approved wpForo posts to satisfy the plugin's default `min_number_posts_to_edit_account` antispam gate, along with a valid wpforo nonce obtained from their own account profile form.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Improper Privilege Management

The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
  • Follow the principle of least privilege when assigning access rights to entities in a software system.
  • Consider following the principle of separation of privilege. Require multiple conditions to be met before permitting access to a system resource.

More Improper Privilege Management vulnerabilities (CWE-269)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Other vulnerabilities in wpForo Forum

All wpForo Forum vulnerabilities

Recent Improper Privilege Management vulnerabilities

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