CVE-2026-18366 in Events Manager Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/12/2026
The Events Manager WordPress plugin before 7.4.1 does not properly scope its capability mapping, discarding the access control decisions WordPress already made for unrelated privileged actions, which allows unauthenticated users to change the password of, escalate to Administrator, or delete any account whose user ID happens to match the ID of one of the Events Manager WordPress plugin before 7.4.1's own posts.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/12/2026
The vulnerability in the Events Manager WordPress plugin affects versions prior to 7.4.1 and represents a critical access control flaw that undermines the fundamental security architecture of WordPress. This issue stems from improper capability mapping within the plugin's code implementation, where the plugin fails to properly scope its own privilege checks against WordPress's existing access control mechanisms. The flaw specifically targets how the plugin handles user account operations, particularly password changes, privilege escalation, and account deletion functions.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs through a capability mapping oversight that causes the plugin to discard WordPress's built-in access control decisions for unrelated privileged actions. When an unauthenticated attacker exploits this weakness, they can manipulate the plugin's behavior to perform administrative operations against user accounts whose numeric IDs happen to match the internal post IDs used by the Events Manager plugin. This creates a scenario where the plugin's own internal ID structures become attack vectors for unauthorized privilege escalation.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and far-reaching within WordPress environments. An unauthenticated attacker can leverage this flaw to change passwords for any user account, effectively taking control of administrative privileges without proper authentication. The vulnerability also enables account deletion capabilities that could completely remove administrative users from the system, leading to complete loss of administrative control over the WordPress installation. This issue directly violates core security principles outlined in the CWE-284 access control weakness category and aligns with ATT&CK techniques targeting privilege escalation through software vulnerabilities.
The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the plugin's failure to properly validate user capabilities before executing sensitive operations, creating a dangerous intersection between the plugin's internal state management and WordPress's permission system. This type of flaw represents a classic example of inadequate input validation and access control enforcement within third-party WordPress plugins, where developers fail to properly integrate with WordPress's established security models. The vulnerability demonstrates how improper capability mapping can create backdoors into administrative functions through seemingly innocuous internal ID structures that should remain isolated from external manipulation attempts.
Organizations using affected versions of the Events Manager plugin should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to version 7.4.1 or later, which properly addresses the capability mapping issue. Security administrators should also conduct thorough audits of their WordPress installations to identify any other plugins exhibiting similar access control weaknesses, as this represents a pattern that may exist in other third-party components. The recommended approach includes implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized administrative actions and ensuring that all WordPress plugins are kept current with security patches from their respective developers.
This vulnerability serves as an important reminder of the critical importance of proper integration with established security frameworks within content management systems like WordPress. The flaw demonstrates how even minor implementation details in capability mapping can create severe security implications, highlighting the need for comprehensive security testing of plugin code before deployment. Organizations should consider implementing automated scanning tools that can identify such access control weaknesses in their plugin ecosystems, as these vulnerabilities often remain undetected until exploited in the wild. The issue also underscores the importance of following security best practices outlined in various industry standards and frameworks that emphasize proper privilege separation and capability validation within web applications.