Vulnerability in Jhimross Debugger & Troubleshooter
CVE-2026-5130
The Debugger & Troubleshooter plugin for WordPress was vulnerable to Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation in versions up to and including 1.3.2. This was due to the plugin accepting the wp_debug_troubleshoot_simulate_user cookie value directly as a user ID without any cryptographic validation or authorization checks. The cookie value was used to override the determine_current_user filter, which allowed unauthenticated attackers to impersonate any user by simply setting the cookie to their target user ID. This made it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain administrator-level access and perform any privileged actions including creating new administrator accounts, modifying site content, installing plugins, or taking complete control of the WordPress site. The vulnerability was fixed in version 1.4.0 by implementing a cryptographic token-based validation system where only administrators can initiate user simulation, and the cookie contains a random 64-character token that must be validated against database-stored mappings rather than accepting arbitrary user IDs.
EPSS: 0.004 (35.2th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 8.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Affected products
- Jhimross Debugger & Troubleshooter — versions 0
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-5130?
- CVE-2026-5130 is a high-severity vulnerability in Jhimross Debugger & Troubleshooter, classified under Reliance on Cookies without Validation and Integrity Checking. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-03-30.
- How severe is CVE-2026-5130?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.