CVE-2026-15151 in Five Star Restaurant Reservations Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/02/2026
The Five Star Restaurant Reservations WordPress plugin before 2.7.23 does not perform a capability check on one of its AJAX actions, allowing users with the lowest booking-management role (which by default cannot access the Five Star Restaurant Reservations WordPress plugin before 2.7.23's settings) to reset the site's configured booking notification rules.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/02/2026
The vulnerability in the Five Star Restaurant Reservations WordPress plugin affects versions prior to 2.7.23 and represents a critical authorization flaw that undermines the plugin's access control mechanisms. This issue stems from the absence of proper capability checks within one of the plugin's AJAX actions, creating an unauthorized access vector that allows users with minimal privileges to manipulate core booking notification settings. The affected plugin employs a role-based access control system where the lowest booking-management role should be restricted from accessing administrative functions, yet this specific AJAX endpoint bypasses these security controls.
The technical implementation flaw lies in the plugin's failure to validate user permissions before executing sensitive operations within its AJAX handler. When users with the default lowest booking-management role invoke the problematic AJAX action, they can successfully reset the site's configured booking notification rules without proper authorization. This represents a classic privilege escalation vulnerability where insufficient access controls permit users to perform administrative functions beyond their designated permissions. The vulnerability directly maps to CWE-284 Access Control Flaws, specifically targeting inadequate permission validation mechanisms.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access as it allows malicious actors with low-level privileges to disrupt the booking notification system, potentially causing critical business operations to fail. When notification rules are reset, customers may not receive confirmation emails about their reservations, staff might miss important booking alerts, and the entire reservation workflow could be compromised. This disruption can lead to significant revenue loss, customer dissatisfaction, and operational chaos for restaurant businesses relying on automated notification systems.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts, as it allows attackers to leverage legitimate user accounts with minimal privileges to achieve unauthorized administrative actions. The attack surface is particularly concerning because the lowest booking-management role typically represents users who should only have read-only access or basic reservation capabilities, making this privilege escalation particularly dangerous. Organizations using this plugin face potential data integrity issues and service disruption risks.
Mitigation strategies must include immediate patching to version 2.7.23 or later, which addresses the capability check deficiency in the AJAX endpoint. Administrators should also implement additional security measures such as monitoring for unusual AJAX activity patterns and ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to booking management roles. The plugin's code should be reviewed for similar permission validation gaps, and proper input sanitization should be implemented for all AJAX handlers. Regular security audits of WordPress plugins are essential to identify and remediate such authorization flaws before they can be exploited in real-world scenarios.