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Rank Math SEO <= 1.0.40.2 — Privilege Escalation via Unprotected REST API Endpoint

CVE-2020-11514Published · Updated

Action summary

Affected: <1.0.41Update to 1.0.41 or newer

All remediation steps
Watch plugin
Severity
Critical9.8
CVSS
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
What does this vector mean?
AV:N Attack vector
Network
AC:L Attack complexity
Low
PR:N Privileges required
None
UI:N User interaction
None
S:U Scope
Unchanged
C:H Confidentiality
High
I:H Integrity
High
A:H Availability
High
Weakness
CWE-862 Missing Authorization
Required access
No account needed
Exploit prediction (EPSS)
No score
CISA KEV
Not listed
On this page8

Am I affected?

Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings seo-by-rank-math

  1. Affected< 1.0.41
  2. Patched in1.0.41

Update to 1.0.41 or newer.

You are affected if you run < 1.0.41. Version 1.0.41 and later are not affected by this issue.

  • Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings.
  • No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.
  • No account is needed to exploit this. Treat any exposed site on an affected version as at risk.

What to do

  1. Update to version 1.0.41, or a newer patched version
  2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
  3. Watch Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Ram.

The Rank Math plugin through 1.0.40.2 for WordPress allows unauthenticated remote attackers to update arbitrary WordPress metadata, including the ability to escalate or revoke administrative privileges for existing users via the unsecured rankmath/v1/updateMeta REST API endpoint.

Exploits & references

Proof-of-concept & detection

No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.

Advisories & patches

More in Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings

All 36
More vulnerabilities in Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings
SeverityVulnerabilityCVEPublished
High8.8Authenticated (Contributor+) PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution
≤1.0.276Update to 1.0.277
CVE-2026-1928
Medium5.3Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated SEO Data Deletion
<1.0.280Update to 1.0.280
CVE-2026-104751
Medium4.4Authenticated (Administrator+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting
≤1.0.279Update to 1.0.280
CVE-2026-104754
Medium4.9Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection
≤1.0.279Update to 1.0.280
CVE-2026-104753
High7.2Authenticated (Administrator+) Arbitrary File Upload
≤1.0.279Update to 1.0.280
CVE-2026-104752

Same weakness (Missing Authorization)

All Missing Authorization
Other Missing Authorization vulnerabilities
SeverityVulnerabilityCVEPublished
High7.2Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Comment User-Agent Header
EZ SQL Reports Shortcode Widget and DB Backup≤5.25.25Update to 5.26.45
CVE-2026-120688
Critical9.8Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via File Upload via Public Form Submission
Chatterbug Forms – Fast, Flexible WordPress Form Builder≤1.0.2Update to 1.1
CVE-2026-125055
Critical9.8Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection to Remote Code Execution via 'form' Parameter
ELEX WordPress HelpDesk & Customer Ticketing System≤3.3.9Update to 3.4.0
CVE-2026-119077
Medium5.3Unauthenticated Sensitive Information Exposure in 'search' Parameter
Customer Reviews for WooCommerce≤5.127.0Update to 5.128.0
CVE-2026-121518

Timeline

  1. CVE published

    Severity critical, CVSS 9.8

  2. Record last updated

Sources & licenses

Wordfence record
Vulnerability data
Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
CVE® identifiers
Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
CVSS / CWE
National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
VulnCrest content
Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.

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