Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Privilege escalation
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-269.
Summary
The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasiliy Strecker / ContestGallery developer | Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe | up to 30.0.2 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe VendorWasiliy Strecker / ContestGallery developer Affected up to 30.0.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:contest-gallery:contest_gallery:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | Wasiliy Strecker / ContestGallery developer |
- cpe:2.3:a:contest-gallery:contest_gallery:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Wasiliy Strecker / ContestGallery developer
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-12165
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-2mpv-c59f-r8f4
References
Other 6
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/69b909da-b1b0-4dab-916c-908511f6556f?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L1242
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/functions/google/cg-create-wp-user-from-google-user.php#L169
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L16
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/index.php#L407
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3571733%40contest-gallery&new=3571733%40contest-gallery&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
More Wasiliy Strecker / ContestGallery developer vulnerabilities
- TI-2022-03804 Contest Gallery < 19.1.5 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2022-03802 Contest Gallery < 19.1.5.1 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-26556 WordPress Contest Gallery plugin <= 23.1.2 - Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.1
- TI-2022-03797 Contest Gallery < 19.1.5 - Admin+ SQL Injection CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2022-03812 Contest Gallery < 19.1.5 - Author+ SQL Injection CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2022-03811 Contest Gallery < 19.1.5 - Author+ SQL Injection CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-12165 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-12165 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-2mpv-c59f-r8f4 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences