Privilege escalation in AutomatorWP WordPress plugin
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- High
- 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
AutomatorWP, a WordPress plugin by rubengc, is affected in all versions up to and including 6.0.4. It does not check that a role supplied through trigger data is at or below the privilege level of the acting context (CWE-269). An unauthenticated attacker can create an administrator account tied to an email address they control when a site has an anonymous automation whose Role option is bound to the comment author tag and an administrator approves a comment, which gives full administrative access to the site.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
Description from the CNA
The AutomatorWP – No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 6.0.4. This is due to missing privilege-ceiling validation in the `create_user()` function within the anonymous-user action (and equally in the Create User and Add/Change Role WordPress-integration actions), which verify only that the submitted role exists via `automatorwp_get_editable_roles()` without confirming the role falls at or below the acting context's privilege level — allowing attacker-controlled trigger tag data (e.g., a `{comment_author}` tag bound to the Role option) to supply any role, including `administrator`, unchallenged. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create a new administrator-role account tied to an attacker-controlled email address, receiving the generated password via WordPress's new-user notification email and thereby gaining full administrative access to the site. Exploitation requires the site to have an anonymous automation configured with the Role option bound to a dynamic trigger tag such as `{comment_author}`, and is triggered when a site administrator performs the routine action of approving a comment — an action that provides no in-UI indication that it will mint a new privileged account from the comment author field.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rubengc | AutomatorWP – No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI | up to 6.0.4 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- AutomatorWP – No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI Vendorrubengc Affected up to 6.0.4 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
The sources list no fixed version for AutomatorWP (No-Code Workflow Automation, Integration & Webhooks Plugin, now with AI).
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
Timeline
- 2026-11-07 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-104768
- 2026-11-07 Alias added: GHSA-wrfm-3g59-7fq9
- 2026-11-08 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-11-08 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
References
Other 8
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/6138f184-4475-4288-835f-9bf8c21f9147?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/integrations/automatorwp/actions/anonymous-user.php#L500
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/integrations/automatorwp/actions/anonymous-user.php#L487
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/includes/events.php#L1303
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/integrations/wordpress/triggers/anonymous-comment-post-type.php#L111
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/integrations/wordpress/actions/create-user.php#L174
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/automatorwp/tags/6.0.3/integrations/wordpress/actions/user-role.php#L149
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3754573%40automatorwp&new=3754573%40automatorwp
More rubengc vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-00149 GamiPress – Vimeo integration < 1.0.9 - Contributor+ Stored XSS CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.4
- TI-2023-09787 WordPress GamiPress Plugin <= 2.5.7 is vulnerable to SQL Injection CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-07643 GamiPress - Reset User <= 1.0.0 - GamiPress User Data Removal via CSRF CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.3
- TI-2024-10225 Code injection in rubengc GamiPress – Gamification plugin to reward points, achievements… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2024-11716 AutomatorWP <= 5.0.9 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via a-0-o-search_field_value CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.6
- TI-2024-12537 GamiPress <= 7.3.1 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection via orderby Parameter CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-104768 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-104768 · NVD
- GHSA-wrfm-3g59-7fq9 · 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