CVE-2026-9851 Booking Package <= 1.7.16 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover to updateUser AJAX Action
Authenticated editors can escalate privileges to administrator by changing any user's email and password via an insecure AJAX endpoint.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-9851?
CVE-2026-9851 is a high-severity vulnerability in masaakitanaka Booking Package, published on 6 Jun 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The Booking Package plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in versions up to, and including, 1.7.16. This is due to a missing capability check on the 'updateUser' branch of the package_app_action AJAX endpoint, where the handler only validates a nonce and the dispatcher invokes Schedule::updateUser() with the $administrator argument hard-coded to 1, bypassing the only owner-restriction check inside that function and allowing the target user to be determined solely by attacker-supplied input passed directly to wp_update_user(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Editor-level access and above, to change the email address and password of any account, including Administrator accounts, resulting in a full site takeover.
Weakness: CWE-639
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-9851?
How do I fix CVE-2026-9851?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-9851 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-9851 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-9851 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-9gp9-g392-77v9.