DevKit Pro <= 2.3.0 — Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass to Administrator Account Takeover via 'original_user_id' Cookie in Frontend Revert Switch Flow

Am I affected?

• Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under DevKit Pro.
• 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 2.3.1, or a newer patched version
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch DevKit Pro to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to h0xilo.

The DevKit Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass Leading to Administrator Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.3.0 This is due to the `revert_switch` handler trusting the attacker-controlled `original_user_id` cookie as the privileged identity: `verify_nonce_and_capability()` incorrectly checks the `manage_options` capability on the user identified by the cookie rather than on the actual requester via `current_user_can()`, while the switch-back form and a valid session-bound nonce are emitted publicly via `wp_footer` to any visitor — including unauthenticated users — whenever that cookie is present. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to set the `original_user_id` cookie to any administrator's user ID, collect the rendered nonce, and POST it back to the `revert_switch` handler, causing `wp_set_auth_cookie()` to be called with the administrator's ID and granting the attacker a full administrator-level authenticated session and complete site takeover.

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

Timeline

1. Oct 1, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity critical, CVSS 9.8

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated