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CVE-2026-12165

Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter

Published: Jun 17, 2026Updated: Jun 17, 2026 Sources: CVE List NVDCWE-269

Description

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

CVSS Vector Breakdown

AV:NAC:LPR:LUI:NS:UC:HI:HA:H
Exploitability
AV:NAttack Vector
Network
AC:LAttack Complexity
Low
PR:LPrivileges Required
Low
UI:NUser Interaction
None
Scope
S:UScope
Unchanged
Impact
C:HConfidentiality
High
I:HIntegrity
High
A:HAvailability
High

Weaknesses

Affected Products

contest-gallerycommercialWeb & CMS Pluginsaka contest gallery

Attack Graph

Products CVE Techniques Tactics

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Exploitability

No known exploits, KEV entries, or remediation guidance available for this vulnerability yet.

MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique
Privilege Escalation
View detailed technique mapping

References

and 3 more references View all →

Timeline

Published
Jun 17, 2026
Last Updated
Jun 17, 2026

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