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CVE-2026-16635 — The Pronamic Pay plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all…

Key facts

CVE-2026-16635 is a High (8.8) vulnerability: The Pronamic Pay plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all…. This entry ships a detection-only PoC and a Docker test lab.
CVE CVE-2026-16635
Severity High (8.8)
Detection / prevention —
PoC poc.py
Source 2026/CVE-2026-16635/

Details

English | 한국어

Description

The Pronamic Pay plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 10.1.0 This is due to the maybe_update_user_role() function passing an attacker-controlled Gravity Forms field value ($lead[$feed->user_role_field_id]) directly into WP_User::set_role() without any allowlist validation, capability comparison, or permission check to constrain which roles can be assigned. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their own WordPress account to Administrator by tampering with the role field value in a form submission. Exploitation requires that an administrator has already configured a Pronamic Pay payment feed in Gravity Forms with the Update User Role option enabled and mapped to a form field; once that configuration is in place, no further preconditions exist to prevent an authenticated attacker from exploiting this vulnerability.

Vulnerability Details

Property Value
CVE ID CVE-2026-16635
CVSS Score 8.8

Proof of Concept

Download

# Download PoC script
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fankh/vulnerability-poc/main/2026/CVE-2026-16635/poc.py

Usage

# Run PoC against target
python3 poc.py --target <TARGET_URL>

# With authentication
python3 poc.py --target <TARGET_URL> --username <USER> --password <PASS>

⚠️ Warning: This PoC is for authorized security testing only. It uses detection-only techniques and does not exploit or damage target systems.

Test Lab

This repository includes a Docker-based test environment with both vulnerable and patched applications.

Quick Start

# Clone and navigate to CVE directory
cd CVE-2026-16635

# Start both applications
docker-compose up -d

# Run tests
./run-tests.sh    # Linux/Mac
./run-tests.ps1   # Windows PowerShell

Application Endpoints

Application URL Status
Vulnerable App http://localhost:8080 Shows vulnerability
Patched App http://localhost:8081 Demonstrates fix

Directory Structure

├── README.md           # English documentation
├── README_KO.md        # Korean documentation
├── poc.py              # PoC detection script
├── docker-compose.yml  # Container orchestration
├── run-tests.sh        # Linux/Mac test runner
├── run-tests.ps1       # Windows test runner
├── vulnerable-app/     # Vulnerable version
│   ├── app.py
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   └── requirements.txt
└── patched-app/        # Fixed version
    ├── app.py
    ├── Dockerfile
    └── requirements.txt

References

  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pronamic-ideal/tags/10.1.0/packages/wp-pay-extensions/gravityforms/src/Extension.php#L144
  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pronamic-ideal/tags/10.1.0/packages/wp-pay-extensions/gravityforms/src/Extension.php#L376
  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pronamic-ideal/tags/10.1.0/packages/wp-pay-extensions/gravityforms/src/Extension.php#L379
  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/pronamic-ideal/tags/10.1.0/packages/wp-pay-extensions/gravityforms/src/Extension.php#L988
  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630401/pronamic-ideal/trunk/packages/wp-pay-extensions/gravityforms/src/Extension.php
  • https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Fpronamic-ideal/tags/10.1.0&new_path=%2Fpronamic-ideal/tags/10.2.0
  • https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d42b8856-e5d0-4122-98a4-8c959832b271?source=cve

Generated by PoC Generator on 2026-08-01T20:12:05.841576922

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-16635?

CVE-2026-16635 is a High (8.8) vulnerability: The Pronamic Pay plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all…. This entry ships a detection-only PoC and a Docker test lab.

How do I detect CVE-2026-16635?

Run the detection-only PoC included with this entry against your Docker test lab to confirm whether a target is affected; pair it with your own IDS logging.

How do I block or mitigate CVE-2026-16635?

Upgrade to a fixed version per the vendor advisory; the NVD record lists the affected versions. Use the included PoC to verify your remediation.

For authorized security testing and research only. See the full source and NVD record.