CVE-2026-118101 in BuddyForms Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/30/2026
The BuddyForms WordPress plugin before 2.10.1 does not verify that a user editing an existing entry is the author of the target post, allowing users who have been granted edit access to a form, as low as Subscriber, to overwrite the title, content and status of any other user's posts or pages, including those of administrators.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/30/2026
The vulnerability identified in BuddyForms versions prior to 2.10.1 represents a critical failure in server-side authorization logic within a widely used WordPress plugin designed for creating custom forms and managing entries. This flaw stems from an insecure direct object reference mechanism where the application fails to validate that the authenticated user initiating an edit request is the legitimate owner of the specific form entry being modified. In standard web application security principles, this type of oversight allows attackers to manipulate resources belonging to other users by simply altering identifiers in their requests, a category of weakness formally classified under CWE-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key. The absence of proper ownership verification means that the backend processes trust client-supplied data regarding which entry is being targeted without cross-referencing it against the identity and permissions of the current session user.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability enables low-privilege users to perform actions far beyond their intended scope. Specifically, individuals with even the most basic WordPress role, such as Subscriber, can exploit this flaw if they have been granted edit access to any form within the system. By manipulating the entry identifier in HTTP requests sent during the editing process, these attackers can overwrite critical metadata associated with other users' posts or pages. This includes modifying titles and content bodies, which compromises data integrity and confidentiality. More severely, the ability to alter post status allows an attacker to publish, draft, or trash entries belonging to administrators or other high-privilege accounts. This capability effectively bypasses role-based access controls that are supposed to restrict such actions based on user hierarchy rather than resource ownership alone.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data corruption. Because the attack vector requires only edit access to a form, it can be triggered by any registered user who has interacted with BuddyForms in an authorized capacity. This significantly lowers the barrier for exploitation compared to vulnerabilities requiring administrative privileges or unauthenticated access. Attackers could use this flaw to deface websites by altering public-facing content, disrupt business operations by changing critical data fields, or escalate their influence within the WordPress ecosystem by compromising administrator accounts through status manipulation. In environments where BuddyForms is used for sensitive user-generated content or internal workflows, this lack of proper authorization checks poses a severe risk to organizational security posture and compliance with data integrity standards.
To mitigate this vulnerability, immediate action must be taken to update the BuddyForms plugin to version 2.10.1 or later, which includes patches addressing these authorization flaws. During the transition period, administrators should review user roles and permissions carefully, ensuring that edit access is granted only to trusted individuals who require it for legitimate business functions. Implementing additional security layers such as Web Application Firewalls can help detect anomalous patterns of entry modification requests, although they are not a substitute for fixing the underlying code defect. Furthermore, developers integrating BuddyForms into custom themes or plugins should ensure that any subsequent interactions with form entries include robust server-side validation to verify user ownership before processing updates. Adhering to secure coding practices and regularly auditing third-party components against known vulnerability databases is essential for maintaining resilience against such authorization bypass attacks aligned with MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation and data manipulation.