{"id":"CVE-2026-120538","aliases":["EUVD-2026-115672","GHSA-857c-39q5-mhcq"],"status":"published","title":"Easy Digital Downloads \u003c= 3.7.2 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass to Administrator Account Takeover via Guest Checkout Email Binding at PayPal Capture","description":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order-\u003eemail )) and, when $order-\u003euser_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":8.1,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-12","score":0.0043,"percentile":0.37653,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":false},"cwes":["CWE-287"],"published":"2026-11-03T04:43:10Z","modified":"2026-11-08T19:05:26Z","products":[{"vendor":"smub","product":"easy digital downloads – ecommerce payments and subscriptions made easy"}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f4250328-6d6c-4eb1-9ef2-334774c1d337?source=cve"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/easy-digital-downloads/tags/3.7.0/includes/user-functions.php#L428"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/easy-digital-downloads/tags/3.7.0/includes/customers/customer-actions.php#L49"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/easy-digital-downloads/tags/3.7.0/includes/orders/functions/orders.php#L798"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/easy-digital-downloads/tags/3.7.0/src/Gateways/PayPal/V3/PurchaseUser.php#L174"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/easy-digital-downloads/tags/3.7.0/includes/gateways/paypal/checkout-actions.php#L681"},{"url":"https://wordpress.org/plugins/easy-digital-downloads/"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-120538"},{"url":"https://wordpress.org/plugins/easy-digital-downloads"},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-857c-39q5-mhcq"}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2026-120538","title":"Easy Digital Downloads \u003c= 3.7.2 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass to Administrator Account Takeover via Guest Checkout Email Binding at PayPal Capture","description":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order-\u003eemail )) and, when $order-\u003euser_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.","status":"published","published":"2026-11-03T04:43:10.981Z","modified":"2026-11-08T19:05:26.018Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.1,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-287"],"updated_at":"2026-11-08T20:44:31.359421Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2026-115672","description":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order-\u003eemail )) and, when $order-\u003euser_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.","status":"published","published":"2026-11-03T04:43:10Z","modified":"2026-11-08T19:05:26Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.1,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-08T20:13:56.600577Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-857c-39q5-mhcq","title":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to...","description":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order-\u003eemail )) and, when $order-\u003euser_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.","status":"published","published":"2026-11-03T06:31:12Z","modified":"2026-11-03T06:31:13Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.1,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"cwes":["CWE-287"],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T06:41:01.266412Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2026-120538","description":"The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order-\u003eemail )) and, when $order-\u003euser_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.","status":"published","published":"2026-11-03T05:18:32.193Z","modified":"2026-11-08T19:17:35.983Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.1,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"secondary"}],"cwes":["CWE-287"],"updated_at":"2026-11-08T22:11:12.688701Z"}]}}