CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-12165NVD status: Deferred

Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media…: Improper Privilege Management

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-12165 is a high-severity improper privilege management vulnerability in Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe from Contest Gallery, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 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 Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe versions: 30.0.2 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 0.4% 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 Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
Contest-galleryContest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe30.0.2 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
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
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:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (wordfence.com).

Official description

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

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).

References

Other vulnerabilities in Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe

All Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe vulnerabilities

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