Privilege escalation in Academy LMS lets guardians gain student role
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Privilege escalation
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-269.
Summary
The Academy LMS plugin for WordPress is affected in all versions through 4.0.3. The add_child() function assigns the academy_student role to an existing account before the guardian-ward link is validated, and it does not undo that role change when the link is rejected (CWE-269). An authenticated attacker with the academy_guardian role or higher can change any existing WordPress account, including their own, to the academy_student role and gain edit_posts capabilities.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Description from the CNA
The Academy LMS – AI Course Builder, Quizzes, Certificates & eLearning plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 4.0.3. This is due to the `add_child()` function calling `add_role('academy_student')` on any existing account resolved from the attacker-supplied `email` parameter before `Store::link()` validates the guardian-ward relationship, and failing to roll back that role write when `Store::link()` returns a `WP_Error`. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with the `academy_guardian` role or higher to elevate any existing WordPress account — including their own — to the `academy_student` role, gaining `edit_posts` (Contributor-equivalent) capabilities and, when the student file-upload setting is enabled, `upload_files` (Author-equivalent) capabilities not granted to the guardian role. When a guardian supplies their own email address, `email_exists()` resolves to their own user ID, causing `Store::link()` to reject the self-link, but because the `add_role()` call has already executed and is never reversed, the academy_student role grant on their own account persists permanently.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
The sources list no fixed version for Academy LMS.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-29
Timeline
- 2026-10-10 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-104022
- 2026-10-10 Alias added: GHSA-vxgf-qvq7-h87v
- 2026-10-11 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
- 2026-10-11 CISA SSVC decision points changed
References
Other 6
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a54dd9e5-59e7-4655-9f64-e198deda1383?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/academy/tags/4.0.2/includes/guardian/rest-api.php#L160
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/academy/tags/4.0.2/includes/guardian/rest-api.php#L138
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/academy/tags/4.0.2/includes/guardian/rest-api.php#L85
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/academy/tags/4.0.2/includes/guardian/store.php#L39
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3734598%40academy&new=3734598%40academy
More kodezen vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-08451 Unrestricted file upload in kodezen StoreEngine — Complete eCommerce Solution with… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-25935 WordPress Academy LMS plugin <= 2.0.4 - Broken Access Control vulnerability CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2025-08450 Path traversal in kodezen StoreEngine — Complete eCommerce Solution with Memberships… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2025-14160 Authorization bypass in kodezen Academy LMS – WordPress LMS Plugin for Complete eLearning… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-01406 Improper privilege management in kodezen Academy LMS – WordPress LMS Plugin for Complete… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-80065 Privilege escalation in aBlocks WordPress plugin CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-104022 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-104022 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vxgf-qvq7-h87v · 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