CVE-2026-108685: WP Post Author missing authorization check vulnerability
low 3.7 published 2026-10-29
- Affected versions
- older than 4.2.0
- Fixed in
- 4.2.0
- Latest version
- 4.2.0
- Severity
- Low · CVSS 3.7
- Active installs
- 10,000+
- Type
- Missing authorization check
What an attacker needs
- Access: None. No account or login is needed.
CVSS vector (score by CISA ADP): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
What to do now
- Update WP Post Author to 4.2.0 or newer: Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known WP Post Author issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get wp-post-author --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The WP Post Author WordPress plugin before 4.2.0 does not check that the account was created before updating its profile during front-end registration, allowing unauthenticated users to overwrite the display name, nickname and website of the first user account, which is normally the administrator, when a registration form declares one of those fields.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-108685 nvd.nist.gov
- WPScan advisory wpscan.com
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
The free scan reads the public side of your site and looks for spam pages, hidden redirects, injected scripts and blacklist entries. No login, no install, about a minute.
Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/wp-post-author (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-04.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.