Co-Authors Plus <= 4.1.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Missing Authorization to Guest Author Account Linking
- ID
- WPSEC-2026-1744
- Plugin
- Co-Authors Plus (co-authors-plus)
- Affected
- from 3.0 before 4.1.3
- Remediation
- Update to 4.1.3 or later.
- CVSS 3.1
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- Weakness
- CWE-862
- Usage
- Plugin Medium · Affected versions Medium among sites WPSec scans, 2026-10-27
- Attack surface
- Co-Authors Plus on WPSec AttackSurface
- Fix released
- Published
Description
The Co-Authors Plus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data via the guest author 'linked account' field in all versions up to, and including, 4.1.2, due to a missing capability check when a guest author is saved. Guest authors use the default post capabilities, and the add-guest-author capability defaults to edit_posts. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access and above to create or edit a guest author linked to any WordPress user account. The guest author then replaces that user on bylines across the site, showing the attacker's chosen name, biography and website.
References
- https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-1744/
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/co-authors-plus/tags/4.1.3/
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/co-authors-plus/
Published by WPSec. Provided as is, without warranty. Corrections: contact us.
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