MDJM Event Management <= 1.7.8.4 — Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via 'set-permissions' and 'change_role' Handlers

Am I affected?

• Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under MDJM Event Management.
• No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.

What to do

1. Update to version 1.7.8.5, or a newer patched version
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch MDJM Event Management to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to moonge.

The MDJM Event Management plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.7.8.4. This is due to missing capability checks and nonce verification in the `MDJM_Permissions::set_permissions()` and `MDJM_Employee_Manager::init()` functions, combined with the absence of server-side allow-list validation on the `employee_roles[]` and `new_role` POST parameters before they are passed to `mdjm_set_employee_role()` and `WP_User::set_role()`. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to grant arbitrary MDJM capabilities — including `mdjm_employee` and `mdjm_employee_edit` — to any registered WordPress role, and subsequently leverage a subscriber-level account to escalate privileges to Administrator. `MDJM_Permissions::init()` is registered on the public WordPress `init` hook without any authentication gate, meaning the role-manipulation endpoint is reachable without any prior login.

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. Jul 22, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity high, CVSS 8.8

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated