Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-M4RM-GRQ4-J8WP

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-03-24 00:30 – Updated: 2026-03-24 00:30

Details

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5. This is due to the email confirmation handler in users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php using the user's email string in a WHERE ID = %s clause instead of the numeric user ID, combined with an unauthenticated key-based login endpoint in ajax-functions-frontend.php. When the non-default RegMailOptional=1 setting is enabled, an attacker can register with a crafted email starting with the target user ID (e.g., 1poc@example.test), trigger the confirmation flow to overwrite the admin's user_activation_key via MySQL integer coercion, and then use the post_cg1l_login_user_by_key AJAX action to authenticate as the admin without any credentials. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to take over any WordPress administrator account and gain full site control.

Severity ?

8.1 (High)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Show details on source website

JSON

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-4021"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-287"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-03-24T00:16:31Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5. This is due to the email confirmation handler in `users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php` using the user\u0027s email string in a `WHERE ID = %s` clause instead of the numeric user ID, combined with an unauthenticated key-based login endpoint in `ajax-functions-frontend.php`. When the non-default `RegMailOptional=1` setting is enabled, an attacker can register with a crafted email starting with the target user ID (e.g., `1poc@example.test`), trigger the confirmation flow to overwrite the admin\u0027s `user_activation_key` via MySQL integer coercion, and then use the `post_cg1l_login_user_by_key` AJAX action to authenticate as the admin without any credentials. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to take over any WordPress administrator account and gain full site control.",
  "id": "GHSA-m4rm-grq4-j8wp",
  "modified": "2026-03-24T00:30:26Z",
  "published": "2026-03-24T00:30:26Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-4021"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.4/ajax/ajax-functions-frontend.php#L204"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.4/v10/v10-admin/users/frontend/registry/users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php#L153"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/trunk/ajax/ajax-functions-frontend.php#L204"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/trunk/v10/v10-admin/users/frontend/registry/users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php#L153"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.5\u0026new_path=/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.6"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f1b9725b-dee5-44ca-bb33-c6812fb76adc?source=cve"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2026-4021 (GCVE-0-2026-4021)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-03-23 23:25 – Updated: 2026-04-08 17:32

Title

Contest Gallery <= 28.1.5 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation Admin Account Takeover via Registration Confirmation Email-to-ID Type Confusion

Summary

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5. This is due to the email confirmation handler in `users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php` using the user's email string in a `WHERE ID = %s` clause instead of the numeric user ID, combined with an unauthenticated key-based login endpoint in `ajax-functions-frontend.php`. When the non-default `RegMailOptional=1` setting is enabled, an attacker can register with a crafted email starting with the target user ID (e.g., `1poc@example.test`), trigger the confirmation flow to overwrite the admin's `user_activation_key` via MySQL integer coercion, and then use the `post_cg1l_login_user_by_key` AJAX action to authenticate as the admin without any credentials. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to take over any WordPress administrator account and gain full site control.

Severity ?

8.1 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE

CWE-287 - Improper Authentication

Assigner

Wordfence

References

URL

Tags

	https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabil…
	https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contes…
	https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contes…
	https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contes…
	https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contes…
	https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_…

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version
	contest-gallery	Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe	Affected: 0 , ≤ 28.1.5 (semver)

Credits

Supakiad S.

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2026-4021",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "total"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2026-03-24T18:43:36.134537Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2026-03-24T18:43:43.168Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Contest Gallery \u2013 Upload \u0026 Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal \u0026 Stripe",
          "vendor": "contest-gallery",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "28.1.5",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "Supakiad S."
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5. This is due to the email confirmation handler in `users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php` using the user\u0027s email string in a `WHERE ID = %s` clause instead of the numeric user ID, combined with an unauthenticated key-based login endpoint in `ajax-functions-frontend.php`. When the non-default `RegMailOptional=1` setting is enabled, an attacker can register with a crafted email starting with the target user ID (e.g., `1poc@example.test`), trigger the confirmation flow to overwrite the admin\u0027s `user_activation_key` via MySQL integer coercion, and then use the `post_cg1l_login_user_by_key` AJAX action to authenticate as the admin without any credentials. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to take over any WordPress administrator account and gain full site control."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 8.1,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-287",
              "description": "CWE-287 Improper Authentication",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-04-08T17:32:30.381Z",
        "orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
        "shortName": "Wordfence"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f1b9725b-dee5-44ca-bb33-c6812fb76adc?source=cve"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/trunk/v10/v10-admin/users/frontend/registry/users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php#L153"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.4/v10/v10-admin/users/frontend/registry/users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php#L153"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/trunk/ajax/ajax-functions-frontend.php#L204"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.4/ajax/ajax-functions-frontend.php#L204"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.5\u0026new_path=/contest-gallery/tags/28.1.6"
        }
      ],
      "timeline": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-03-11T20:26:17.000Z",
          "value": "Vendor Notified"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-03-23T11:19:11.000Z",
          "value": "Disclosed"
        }
      ],
      "title": "Contest Gallery \u003c= 28.1.5 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation Admin Account Takeover via Registration Confirmation Email-to-ID Type Confusion"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
    "assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-4021",
    "datePublished": "2026-03-23T23:25:50.405Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-03-11T20:10:49.726Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-04-08T17:32:30.381Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

GHSA-M4RM-GRQ4-J8WP

CVE-2026-4021 (GCVE-0-2026-4021)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature