CVE-2026-18962 in Photo Album Plus Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/12/2026
The WP Photo Album Plus WordPress plugin before 9.2.09.002 does not check that the current user is allowed to upload into the album they target when it processes a front-end upload, allowing any authenticated user, such as a Subscriber, to upload files into albums owned by other users or by the administrator. Exploitation requires the WP Photo Album Plus WordPress plugin before 9.2.09.002's front-end user upload feature to be enabled, which is not the default.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/12/2026
The vulnerability in WP Photo Album Plus plugin versions prior to 9.2.09.002 represents a critical access control flaw that undermines the security boundaries between user accounts and their respective media collections. This issue falls under the category of insufficient authorization checks as defined by CWE-863, where the plugin fails to verify that an authenticated user possesses the necessary permissions to perform operations on specific resources. The vulnerability specifically affects the front-end upload functionality, which when enabled creates an attack surface that allows malicious or unauthorized users to bypass normal access controls and upload files into albums they do not own. This misconfiguration creates a privilege escalation scenario where lower-privileged users can manipulate content owned by higher-privileged accounts.
The technical implementation of this flaw stems from the plugin's failure to validate user permissions during the file upload process. When an authenticated user attempts to upload media through the front-end interface, the system does not perform proper authorization checks to confirm that the user has write access to the target album. This oversight allows any authenticated user regardless of their role or capabilities to submit files to albums belonging to other users or administrators. The vulnerability requires explicit activation of the front-end upload feature which is not enabled by default, but once activated becomes a significant security risk. The attack vector operates through the plugin's upload endpoint where it processes file submissions without validating whether the requesting user has the appropriate privileges.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized file uploads and presents substantial risks to content management integrity. An attacker with subscriber-level access can potentially compromise the privacy and security of media collections owned by administrators or other users, leading to potential data exposure or malicious content injection. This issue directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers valid accounts and T1566.002 which involves spearphishing with links, as compromised accounts can be leveraged to perform unauthorized operations within the plugin's upload functionality. The vulnerability creates a persistent threat vector where attackers can gradually accumulate media content in targeted albums, potentially leading to storage exhaustion or malicious file deployment.
Organizations using WP Photo Album Plus should immediately implement mitigations including disabling the front-end upload feature if it is not required for their use case, or upgrading to version 9.2.09.002 which contains the necessary authorization checks. Security hardening measures should include reviewing and restricting user capabilities within the WordPress environment to minimize the impact of potential exploitation, while also implementing monitoring solutions that can detect unusual upload patterns or unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and authorization enforcement in web applications, as highlighted by CWE-603 which addresses the use of insecure methods for checking permissions. Regular security audits and patch management procedures should be implemented to prevent similar issues in other plugins and core WordPress functionality.