Import and export users and customers <= 2.4.17 — Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via CSV Escape-Character Mismatch in Export/Import Round Trip via display_name and nickname Profile Fields

Am I affected?

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

What to do

1. Update to version 2.4.18, or a newer patched version
2. Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
3. Watch Import and export users and customers to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.

Advisory

Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to khanhnv.

The Import and export users and customers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.17 via the plugin's own export and re-import workflow. The vulnerability exists because the exporter writes CSV cells using fputcsv() with a NUL byte (\0) as the escape character, while the importer parses the same file using SplFileObject::fgetcsv() with only a single delimiter argument, causing PHP's default backslash escape character to be applied instead; because the export column layout places display_name immediately before the role column and nickname immediately after, an attacker can store crafted values in those two profile fields — saved by WordPress core via the standard profile page — such that the escape mismatch causes the parser to merge the display_name cell into the role field and rebalance the column count via nickname, yielding administrator as the parsed role for their own row when it reaches the import_user function's add_role function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or above to escalate their privileges to Administrator. Exploitation requires a site administrator to trigger the plugin's documented export re-import migration with both "Update existing users" and "Update roles for existing users" set to "yes".

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. Sep 23, 2026

   CVE published

   Severity high, CVSS 8.8

2. Nov 13, 2026

   Record last updated