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CVE-2026-12165

Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter

8.8 High

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the RegistryUserRole parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the edit_posts capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid cg_admin nonce — while the option-saving handler in change-options-and-sizes.php performs no current_user_can() capability check beyond check_admin_referer('cg_admin'), and the RegistryUserRole value is processed only through sanitize_text_field() and htmlentities() without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored RegistryUserRole option with administrator, which the cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user function then reads back from the contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to wp_update_user(), effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.40%Down 0.2 points since Jun 17, 2026
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 8.8

Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the RegistryUserRole parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the edit_posts capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid cg_admin nonce — while the option-saving handler in change-options-and-sizes.php performs no current_user_can() capability check beyond check_admin_referer('cg_admin'), and the RegistryUserRole value is processed only through sanitize_text_field() and htmlentities() without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored RegistryUserRole option with administrator, which the cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user function then reads back from the contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to wp_update_user(), effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

Record
CVE-2026-12165
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-269
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-37586 8.8

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the RegistryUserRole parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the edit_posts capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid cg_admin nonce — while the option-saving handler in change-options-and-sizes.php performs no current_user_can() capability check beyond check_admin_referer('cg_admin'), and the RegistryUserRole value is processed only through sanitize_text_field() and htmlentities() without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored RegistryUserRole option with administrator, which the cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user function then reads back from the contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to wp_update_user(), effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

Record
EUVD-2026-37586
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-2mpv-c59f-r8f4 8.8

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress...

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the RegistryUserRole parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the edit_posts capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid cg_admin nonce — while the option-saving handler in change-options-and-sizes.php performs no current_user_can() capability check beyond check_admin_referer('cg_admin'), and the RegistryUserRole value is processed only through sanitize_text_field() and htmlentities() without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored RegistryUserRole option with administrator, which the cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user function then reads back from the contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to wp_update_user(), effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

Record
GHSA-2mpv-c59f-r8f4
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-269
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 8.8

The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the RegistryUserRole parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the edit_posts capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid cg_admin nonce — while the option-saving handler in change-options-and-sizes.php performs no current_user_can() capability check beyond check_admin_referer('cg_admin'), and the RegistryUserRole value is processed only through sanitize_text_field() and htmlentities() without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored RegistryUserRole option with administrator, which the cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user function then reads back from the contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to wp_update_user(), effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.

Record
CVE-2026-12165
CVSS 3.1
8.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-269
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2026-12165 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) in Contest-gallery Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell With Paypal & Stripe, published June 17, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.40%, the 34th percentile. No source names a fixed version.

References

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