Description
The RestrictMate WordPress plugin before 1.3.0 does not restrict the user role supplied during account registration, allowing unauthenticated attackers to create a new administrator account and gain a logged-in administrator session, leading to full site takeover.
Published: 2026-08-23
Score: 9.8 Critical
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: Privilege Escalation to Administrator
Action: Update Plugin
AI Analysis

Impact

The RestrictMate WordPress plugin fails to constrain the user role supplied during account registration, allowing any unauthenticated visitor to create a new administrator account. By exploiting this flaw, an attacker can obtain a logged-in administrator session without knowing any existing credentials, effectively giving them full control of the site. This vulnerability is an example of elevation of privilege (CWE-269).

Affected Systems

WordPress sites that have the RestrictMate plugin installed in any version earlier than 1.3.0 are affected. The vulnerability exists because all versions before the 1.3.0 release do not properly restrict the role field during registration.

Risk and Exploitability

The flaw permits direct privilege escalation through the standard WordPress registration endpoint, so an attacker does not need to compromise any existing account. The CVSS score of 9.8 highlights the high severity of this vulnerability. The EPSS score of less than 1% indicates a low but nonzero exploitation probability, and the lack of authentication requirements and the ease of creating a privileged account imply that the vulnerability poses a high operational risk. It is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, but the potential for full site takeover requires timely attention.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 24, 2026 at 20:41 UTC.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Upgrade the RestrictMate plugin to version 1.3.0 or later.
  • Ensure the registration endpoint enforces the default user role and rejects arbitrary role assignments in custom fields.
  • Review WordPress user registration settings to confirm that only the Subscriber role is assigned by default and that role assignment options are disabled for untrusted users.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on August 24, 2026 at 20:41 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-284

Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Sun, 23 Aug 2026 07:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-269
CWE-284

Sun, 23 Aug 2026 06:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The RestrictMate WordPress plugin before 1.3.0 does not restrict the user role supplied during account registration, allowing unauthenticated attackers to create a new administrator account and gain a logged-in administrator session, leading to full site takeover.
Title RestrictMate < 1.3.0 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation to Administrator
References

Subscriptions

No data.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: WPScan

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-28T15:13:47.841Z

Reserved: 2026-06-29T07:41:34.484Z

Link: CVE-2026-13598

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-08-23T15:24:23.538Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-08-23T06:16:19.850

Modified: 2026-08-28T16:17:05.820

Link: CVE-2026-13598

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-24T20:45:04Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-269

    Improper Privilege Management