CVE-2026-105196 in Appointment Booking Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/08/2026
The Appointment Booking Plugin WordPress plugin before 5.6.9 does not enforce per-record authorization on several of its AI Abilities API actions, allowing an authenticated user holding the LatePoint Agent role, normally restricted to their own records, to read and modify other agents' profile data and read other agents' bookings and associated customer details when the Abilities API feature is enabled.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/08/2026
The vulnerability identified in the Appointment Booking Plugin for WordPress, specifically versions prior to 5.6.9, represents a critical failure in server-side access control mechanisms within its AI Abilities API implementation. This flaw allows authenticated users with the LatePoint Agent role to bypass intended restrictions on data visibility and modification capabilities. In standard operational contexts, agents are granted limited permissions designed to isolate their workflow from that of other team members, ensuring privacy for both staff profiles and client information. However, due to insufficient authorization checks within specific API endpoints, this isolation is effectively neutralized, exposing sensitive organizational and personal data to unauthorized access by any user possessing the agent role.
From a technical perspective, the core issue lies in the lack of per-record authorization validation when processing requests through the AI Abilities API actions. The application logic fails to verify that the authenticated user initiating an action actually owns or has explicit permission over the specific resource being accessed. Instead of validating ownership against database records for each individual request, the system appears to rely on broader role-based permissions without enforcing granular checks. This oversight permits agents to issue read and write operations targeting profile data belonging to other agents as well as booking details associated with customers who are not their own appointments. The presence of this vulnerability is contingent upon the AI Abilities feature being enabled within the plugin configuration, highlighting a risk specific to deployments utilizing advanced automation or artificial intelligence integrations provided by the software vendor.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data leakage into significant privacy violations and potential business disruption. Agents can view confidential booking schedules, which may reveal strategic information about client relationships, peak times, and service offerings intended for internal use only. Furthermore, the ability to modify other agents' profile data introduces risks related to integrity compromise, where malicious actors could alter contact details, availability settings, or performance metrics associated with colleagues. This undermines trust within team structures and violates fundamental principles of least privilege that are essential in multi-user enterprise applications. Additionally, exposure of customer personal information constitutes a severe breach of privacy regulations such as GDPR or CCPA, potentially resulting in legal liabilities for the organization hosting the WordPress site.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-284 Improper Access Control and CWE-639 Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key, reflecting common pitfalls in web application development where identity verification is decoupled from resource ownership validation. In terms of offensive security frameworks, this behavior maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts, as it exploits legitimate credentials with elevated but insufficiently scoped permissions to access unauthorized resources. It also relates to data exfiltration patterns seen in lateral movement scenarios where an attacker uses compromised low-level accounts to gather intelligence on other users within the same system boundary.
To mitigate this risk, organizations running affected versions of the Appointment Booking Plugin must immediately update to version 5.6.9 or later, which addresses these authorization flaws by implementing strict per-record checks for all API interactions involving agent and customer data. Until an upgrade is feasible, administrators should consider disabling the AI Abilities feature if it is not actively required, thereby removing the attack surface associated with the vulnerable endpoints. Additionally, reviewing user roles to ensure that only trusted personnel hold the LatePoint Agent role can reduce the potential blast radius of exploitation. Regular security audits focusing on access control logic and implementing Web Application Firewall rules that monitor for anomalous API request patterns involving cross-user data retrieval may provide supplementary layers of defense against similar vulnerabilities in other plugins or custom code segments.