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

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 Authenticated instructors can delete or modify other instructors' course content and read unpublished data due to insecure direct object reference.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 May 2026
- **Updated:** 13 May 2026

## 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or modifying lessons, topics, and announcements in victim courses, manipulating student quiz grades, and reading unpublished lesson and quiz content.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 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key)

## 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.

## Is CVE-2026-6965 being exploited?

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

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-6965 and fix it if it is affected.

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

Affected product: themeum Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6965/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6965/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-6965
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6965
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-6965

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-6965/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.