# ThinkRank AI SEO <= 2.14.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Missing Authorization to Restricted ThinkRank REST Endpoints via Mixed-Case Route

- **ID:** WPSEC-2026-0781
- **Plugin:** ThinkRank AI SEO – AI SEO Plugin for WordPress: Schema, XML Sitemaps, Meta Tags, Search Console & Local SEO (`thinkrank`), https://wordpress.org/plugins/thinkrank/
- **Affected versions:** from 1.12.0 before 2.14.3
- **Fixed in:** 2.14.3 (Update to 2.14.3 or later.)
- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N)
- **Weakness:** CWE-178
- **Usage among sites WPSec scans:** plugin Medium, affected versions Medium (as of 2026-10-12)
- **Attack surface analysis:** https://attacksurface.wpsec.com/plugin/thinkrank
- **Fix released:** 2026-10-11
- **Published:** 2026-10-12
- **URL:** https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0781/

## Description

The ThinkRank AI SEO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization via mixed-case REST routes in all versions up to, and including, 2.14.2. This is due to the Role Manager REST gate (Role_Manager::gate_rest) and Capability_Manager::capability_for_route() comparing the raw request route against lowercase '/thinkrank/v1/' and '/thinkrank-pro/v1/' prefixes and section keys, while the WordPress REST server matches routes case-insensitively. A request to /ThinkRank/v1/... skips the gate entirely, including the base ThinkRank access check, and a mixed-case section name falls back to the base access capability. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access and above, who have not been granted ThinkRank access, to reach endpoints whose own permission check only requires edit_posts. They can run the site's AI generation features using its configured AI provider and read ThinkRank section settings, such as Global SEO, sitemap, social media and robots settings.

## References

- https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0781/
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/thinkrank/tags/2.14.3/
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/thinkrank/

Source: WPSec, https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0781/

License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Free to use, share and adapt, also commercially, if you credit WPSec and link to this advisory.