CVE-2026-5465 Privilege escalation in Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia
Authenticated employees can escalate privileges to Administrator by manipulating the externalId parameter in the Amelia plugin.
- 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-2026-5465?
CVE-2026-5465 is a high-severity vulnerability in ameliabooking Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia, published on 7 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Booking for Appointments and Events Calendar – Amelia plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in all versions up to, and including, 2.1.3. This is due to the `UpdateProviderCommandHandler` failing to validate changes to the `externalId` field when a Provider (Employee) user updates their own profile. The `externalId` maps directly to a WordPress user ID and is passed to `wp_set_password()` and `wp_update_user()` without authorization checks. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Provider-level (Employee) access and above, to take over any WordPress account — including Administrator — by injecting an arbitrary `externalId` value when updating their own provider profile.
Weakness: CWE-639
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-5465?
How do I fix CVE-2026-5465?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-5465 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-5465 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-5465 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-3wcx-px3j-79f4.