ShortPixel Enable Media Replace Plugin up to 4.2.2 on WordPress Capability Check doReplaceQuery authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in ShortPixel Enable Media Replace Plugin up to 4.2.2. Affected by this vulnerability is the function doReplaceQuery of the component Capability Check. Performing a manipulation results in authorization. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2026-85655. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in ShortPixel Enable Media Replace Plugin up to 4.2.2. This affects the function doReplaceQuery of the component Capability Check. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a authorization vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-639. The system's authorization functionality does not prevent one user from gaining access to another user's data or record by modifying the key value identifying the data. This is going to have an impact on integrity. The summary by CVE is:

The Enable Media Replace plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 4.2.2. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to modify the post_content of any published post referencing the replaced media — including Administrator-owned posts — making changes immediately visible to unauthenticated visitors. The doReplaceQuery() method performs a database-wide search-and-replace across all posts containing the old media URL without any per-post capability check, meaning a single Author-triggered request can silently overwrite a large number of posts that WordPress's standard admin UI and REST API would otherwise forbid that user from editing.

It is possible to read the advisory at wordfence.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-85655 since 09/04/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/28/2026).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• WordPress Plugin

Vendor

• ShortPixel

Name

• Enable Media Replace Plugin

Version

• 4.2.0
• 4.2.1
• 4.2.2

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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