# Podlove Podcast Publisher <= 4.5.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Insecure Direct Object Reference to Episode and Shownotes Modification

- **ID:** WPSEC-2026-1216
- **Plugin:** Podlove Podcast Publisher (`podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress`), https://wordpress.org/plugins/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/
- **Affected versions:** all versions before 4.5.4
- **Fixed in:** 4.5.4 (Update to 4.5.4 or later.)
- **Severity:** Medium 5.4 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L)
- **Weakness:** CWE-639
- **Usage among sites WPSec scans:** plugin Low, affected versions Low (as of 2026-10-18)
- **Attack surface analysis:** https://attacksurface.wpsec.com/plugin/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress
- **Fix released:** 2026-08-15
- **Published:** 2026-10-18
- **URL:** https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1216/

## Description

The Podlove Podcast Publisher plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference via the episode, shownotes, transcript, chapter, contribution and related-episode REST API endpoints in all versions up to, and including, 4.5.3, due to the update, delete, unfurl and import routes checking only the generic edit_posts capability instead of verifying that the user can edit the specific episode. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to modify, trash or delete episodes and episode data that belong to other authors, including published episodes.

## References

- https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1216/
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/tags/4.5.4/
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/podlove-podcasting-plugin-for-wordpress/

Source: WPSec, https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1216/

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.