Login as User <= 1.0.3 — Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via 'oclaup_original_admin' Cookie

Am I affected?

• Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Login as User – Switch User & WooCommerce Login as Customer.
• No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.

What to do

1. No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch Login as User – Switch User & WooCommerce Login as Customer to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to BaroHaf.

The Login as User plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.3. This is due to the handle_return_to_admin() function trusting a client-controlled cookie (oclaup_original_admin) to determine which user to authenticate as, without any server-side verification that the cookie value was legitimately set during an admin-initiated user switch. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their privileges to administrator by setting the oclaup_original_admin cookie to an administrator's user ID and triggering the "Return to Admin" functionality.

Exploits & references

Proof-of-concept & detection

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

Advisories & patches

• Advisorywordfence.com

Timeline

1. Apr 14, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity high, CVSS 8.8

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated