SQL Injection in Afthemes Wp Post Author – Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars

CVE-2026-11977

The WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via the 'wpma_metabox_authors_list' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 3.9.1 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. Exploitation is a two-step chain: an attacker first saves a crafted guest-author token via the wpma_metabox_authors_list parameter during post creation or editing, then triggers the injection when any admin user loads the post list screen at /wp-admin/edit.php, causing the injected SQL result to be rendered in the Authors column.

Vulnerability class: SQL Injection

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (35.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 36th percentile — 35.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-11977: held from 0.004 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-11977?
CVE-2026-11977 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Afthemes Wp Post Author – Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars, classified under SQL Injection. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2026-08-05.
How severe is CVE-2026-11977?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.