Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter_CVE-2026-12165

{
    "lastseen": "",
    "description": "The Contest Gallery \u2013 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 \u2014 granting Contributor-level users access to the plugin's admin pages and a valid `cg_admin` nonce \u2014 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.",
    "published": "2026-06-17T09:30:59.218Z",
    "modified": "2026-06-17T09:30:59.218Z",
    "type": "cve",
    "title": "Contest Gallery <= 30.0.2 - Authenticated (Author+) Privilege Escalation via 'RegistryUserRole' Parameter",
    "source": "Wordfence",
    "references": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/69b909da-b1b0-4dab-916c-908511f6556f?source=cve\nhttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L1242\nhttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/functions/google/cg-create-wp-user-from-google-user.php#L169\nhttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/v10/v10-admin/options/change-options-and-sizes.php#L16\nhttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/contest-gallery/tags/30.0.2/index.php#L407\nhttps://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3571733%40contest-gallery&new=3571733%40contest-gallery&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=",
    "id": "CVE-2026-12165",
    "bulletinFamily": "",
    "cwe": [
        "CWE-269"
    ],
    "cvelist": null,
    "sourceData": "contest-gallery Contest Gallery \u2013 Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe 0",
    "sourceHref": "",
    "cvss": {
        "score": 8.8,
        "severity": "HIGH",
        "vector": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
        "version": "3.1"
    },
    "cvss2": [],
    "cvss3": {
        "version": "",
        "vectorString": "",
        "baseScore": 0,
        "baseSeverity": "",
        "attackVector": "",
        "attackComplexity": "",
        "privilegesRequired": "",
        "userInteraction": "",
        "scope": "",
        "confidentialityImpact": "",
        "integrityImpact": "",
        "availabilityImpact": "",
        "cvssV3": {
            "version": "",
            "vectorString": "",
            "baseScore": 0,
            "baseSeverity": "",
            "attackVector": "",
            "attackComplexity": "",
            "privilegesRequired": "",
            "userInteraction": "",
            "scope": "",
            "confidentialityImpact": "",
            "integrityImpact": "",
            "availabilityImpact": ""
        }
    },
    "href": "",
    "category_name": "CVE",
    "post_link": "",
    "product": "Contest Gallery \u2013 Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe",
    "version": "0",
    "vendor": "contest-gallery",
    "ai_description": "Privilege Escalation vulnerability in Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress via the RegistryUserRole parameter, allowing authenticated attackers to promote a newly registered Google sign-in account to Administrator.",
    "ai_severity": "High",
    "ai_vendor": "Contest Gallery",
    "ai_product": "Contest Gallery \u2013 Upload & Vote Photos, Media, Sell with PayPal & Stripe",
    "ai_version": "<= 30.0.2",
    "ai_score": 8.8
}