CVE-2026-6965 Missing authorization in Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution

Medium 5.3 Published Updated

Authenticated instructors can delete or modify other instructors' course content and read unpublished data due to insecure direct object reference.

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-2026-6965?

CVE-2026-6965 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in themeum Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution, published on 13 May 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in versions up to and including 3.9.9. This is due to the `get_course_id_by()` function unconditionally trusting the user-supplied `course` GET parameter as the authoritative course ID for content ownership lookups, which is then consumed by `can_user_manage()`, the plugin's sole authorization gate for instructor-level operations, causing it to evaluate instructor membership against the attacker-controlled course rather than the course that actually owns the target content object. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with instructor-level access and above, to perform unauthorized operations on any other instructor's course content, including permanently deleting lessons, assignments, quizzes (with cascading deletion of all student attempt data), topics, announcements, and Q&A threads, as well as creating or modifying lessons, topics, and announcements in victim courses, manipulating student quiz grades, and reading unpublished lesson and quiz content.

Weakness: CWE-639

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-6965?

How do I fix CVE-2026-6965?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-6965 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.

Is CVE-2026-6965 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-6965 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

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