CVE-2026-5130 Debugger & Troubleshooter <= 1.3.2 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation to Administrator via Cookie Manipulation
Unauthenticated attackers can gain administrator access by manipulating a cookie, allowing full site control and privilege escalation.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-5130?
CVE-2026-5130 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in jhimross Debugger & Troubleshooter, published on 30 Mar 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Debugger & Troubleshooter plugin for WordPress was vulnerable to Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation in versions up to and including 1.3.2. This was due to the plugin accepting the wp_debug_troubleshoot_simulate_user cookie value directly as a user ID without any cryptographic validation or authorization checks. The cookie value was used to override the determine_current_user filter, which allowed unauthenticated attackers to impersonate any user by simply setting the cookie to their target user ID. This made it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain administrator-level access and perform any privileged actions including creating new administrator accounts, modifying site content, installing plugins, or taking complete control of the WordPress site. The vulnerability was fixed in version 1.4.0 by implementing a cryptographic token-based validation system where only administrators can initiate user simulation, and the cookie contains a random 64-character token that must be validated against database-stored mappings rather than accepting arbitrary user IDs.
Weakness: CWE-565
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-5130?
How do I fix CVE-2026-5130?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-5130 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-2026-5130 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-5130 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-24w3-v7fc-cjwv.