CVE-2026-19598 Auth bypass in Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields
Unauthenticated attackers can bypass authorization checks in the Pods plugin to escalate privileges to Administrator or reset user passwords, leading to full site takeover.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-19598?
CVE-2026-19598 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.9. The vulnerability exists because the pods_admin AJAX router funnels every access check — including the method allowlist, nonce verification, login enforcement, and capability gate — through pods_error(), which under the JSON meta-box-loader compatibility path only writes failures to the PHP error log and returns false instead of terminating the request, rendering all guards ineffective. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges to Administrator or overwrite the password of any user account, including the site owner's, enabling complete site takeover, or perform another administrator action.
Weakness: CWE-863
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-19598?
How do I fix CVE-2026-19598?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-19598 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.
Is CVE-2026-19598 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-19598 exists.
Public exploit code: 1 Nuclei template and 4 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-hmmc-48gm-3645.