WP Password Policy <= 3.7.1 — Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation

Am I affected?

• Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Teydea Login Security – Password Policy, Complexity Rules & Expiration.
• No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.

What to do

1. Update to version 3.7.2, or a newer patched version
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch Teydea Login Security – Password Policy, Complexity Rules & Expiration to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to zickzick2.

The WP Password Policy plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to and including 3.7.1. This is due to missing authorization checks and nonce verification in the `get_user()` function of the `Module_Password_Hint` class, which unconditionally calls `WP_User::set_role()` with the attacker-supplied `role` parameter on any account resolved via `$_POST['user_login']`, without confirming the requesting user holds the capability to assign roles. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their own privileges to Administrator by submitting a crafted POST request — with `action` set to `createuser` and `role` set to `administrator` — to the password-reset form endpoint. The vulnerable code path is reachable via the `password_hint` filter hooked during the WordPress password-reset form render, meaning an attacker need only possess a valid password-reset cookie to reach the sink.

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 27, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity high, CVSS 8.8

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated