Houzez <= 2.7.1 — Privilege Escalation
CVE-2023-26540Published · Updated Action summary
Affected: ≤2.7.1Update to 2.7.2 or newer
All remediation steps- Severity
- Critical9.8
- CVSS
- 9.8CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:LAttack complexity- Low
PR:NPrivileges required- None
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:UScope- Unchanged
C:HConfidentiality- High
I:HIntegrity- High
A:HAvailability- High
- Required access
- No account needed
- Exploit prediction (EPSS)
- No score
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
On this page8
Am I affected?
Houzez houzez
- Affected≤ 2.7.1
- Patched in2.7.2
Update to 2.7.2 or newer.
You are affected if you run ≤ 2.7.1. Version 2.7.2 and later are not affected by this issue.
- Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Houzez.
- 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
- Update to version 2.7.2, or a newer patched version
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
- Watch Houzez to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.
Advisory
Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Dave Jong.
The Houzez theme for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 2.7.1. This is due to improper assignment of privileges on user management/registration that allows users to supply their own role via the houzez_change_user_role and houzez_register_user_with_membership AJAX actions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register as administrators on vulnerable sites.
Exploits & references
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Related CVEs
More in Houzez
All 17| Severity | Vulnerability | CVE | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium6.1 | Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ≤4.4.0Update to 4.4.1 | CVE-2026-96339 | |
| Medium6.3 | Authenticated (Subscriber+) PHP Object Injection via Saved Search ≤4.1.6Update to 4.1.7 | CVE-2025-9191 | |
| Medium6.1 | Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via SVG File Upload ≤4.1.6Update to 4.1.7 | CVE-2025-9163 | |
| High8.1 | Unauthenticated Local File Inclusion <4.2.0Update to 4.2.0 | CVE-2025-62053 | |
| Medium6.1 | Reflected Cross-Site Scripting ≤4.1.1Update to 4.1.4 | CVE-2025-49407 |
- Medium6.1Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
≤4.4.0Update to 4.4.1
- Medium6.3Authenticated (Subscriber+) PHP Object Injection via Saved Search
≤4.1.6Update to 4.1.7
- Medium6.1Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via SVG File Upload
≤4.1.6Update to 4.1.7
- High8.1Unauthenticated Local File Inclusion
<4.2.0Update to 4.2.0
- Medium6.1Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
≤4.1.1Update to 4.1.4
Timeline
CVE published
Severity critical, CVSS 9.8
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.