{"document":{"category":"csaf_vex","csaf_version":"2.0","title":"CVE-2026-12165: Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter","publisher":{"category":"vendor","name":"HarborGuard Database","namespace":"https://database.harborguard.co"},"tracking":{"id":"CVE-2026-12165","status":"final","version":"1","initial_release_date":"2026-06-17T09:30:59.218Z","current_release_date":"2026-06-17T10:38:40.424Z","revision_history":[{"date":"2026-06-17T09:30:59.218Z","number":"1","summary":"Initial machine-readable export from HarborGuard."}]},"distribution":{"tlp":{"label":"WHITE"},"text":"Public CVE data; freely redistributable."},"notes":[{"category":"description","text":"The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.","title":"CVE description"}],"references":[{"category":"self","summary":"CVE-2026-12165 on HarborGuard Database","url":"https://database.harborguard.co/cve/CVE-2026-12165"},{"category":"external","summary":"CVE Record","url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-12165"},{"category":"external","summary":"wordfence.com","url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/69b909da-b1b0-4dab-916c-908511f6556f?source=cve"},{"category":"external","summary":"plugins.trac.wordpress.org","url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L1242"},{"category":"external","summary":"plugins.trac.wordpress.org","url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/functions/google/cg-create-wp-user-from-google-user.php#L169"},{"category":"external","summary":"plugins.trac.wordpress.org","url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L16"},{"category":"external","summary":"plugins.trac.wordpress.org","url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/index.php#L407"},{"category":"external","summary":"plugins.trac.wordpress.org","url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3571733%40contest-gallery&new=3571733%40contest-gallery&sfp_email=&sfph_mail="}]},"product_tree":{"branches":[{"category":"vendor","name":"contest-gallery","branches":[{"category":"product_name","name":"Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe","branches":[{"category":"product_version_range","name":"<=30.0.2","product":{"name":"contest-gallery Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe <=30.0.2","product_id":"CSAFPID-1","product_identification_helper":{"cpe":"cpe:2.3:a:contest-gallery:contest_gallery_–_upload_\\&_vote_photos\\,_media\\,_sell_with_paypal_\\&_stripe:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"}}}]}]}]},"vulnerabilities":[{"cve":"CVE-2026-12165","title":"Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter","notes":[{"category":"description","text":"The Contest Gallery – Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 30.0.2 via the `RegistryUserRole` parameter. This is due to the plugin's admin menu being registered at the `edit_posts` capability level — granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce — while the option-saving handler in `change-options-and-sizes.php` performs no `current_user_can()` capability check beyond `check_admin_referer('cg_admin')`, and the `RegistryUserRole` value is processed only through `sanitize_text_field()` and `htmlentities()` without restriction to an allowlist of permitted role names. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to overwrite the plugin's stored `RegistryUserRole` option with `administrator`, which the `cg_create_wp_user_from_google_user` function then reads back from the `contest_gal1ery_registry_and_login_options` database table without any allowlist validation and passes directly to `wp_update_user()`, effectively promoting a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.","title":"CVE description"}],"product_status":{"known_affected":["CSAFPID-1"]},"scores":[{"cvss_v3":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","baseScore":8.8,"baseSeverity":"HIGH"},"products":["CSAFPID-1"]}],"remediations":[{"category":"none_available","details":"No fixed version is published yet. Monitor the upstream advisory.","product_ids":["CSAFPID-1"]}]}]}