CVE-2026-11616
Description
The Events Calendar for GeoDirectory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to and including 2.3.28. This is due to the ajax_ayi_action() handler only applying strip_tags(esc_sql()) — with no allow-list — to the attacker-controlled $_POST['type'] and $_POST['postid'] values before forwarding them to update_ayi_data(), which calls update_user_meta($current_user->ID, $rsvp_args['type'], $posts). By passing type=wp_capabilities and postid=administrator, an attacker writes ['subscriber'=>true,'administrator'=>'administrator'] into their own wp_capabilities user meta; WP_User::get_role_caps() then treats the 'administrator' array key as an active role on the next request. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to elevate their privileges to Administrator.
References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/events-for-geodirectory/tags/2.3.28/includes/class-geodir-event-ayi.php#L154
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/events-for-geodirectory/tags/2.3.28/includes/class-geodir-event-ayi.php#L357
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3533585%40events-for-geodirectory&new=3533585%40events-for-geodirectory&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/11ba187b-1fe4-4077-ad9d-a07660133e91?source=cve