Privilege escalation in JSON Options

CVE-2026-75860

The JSON Options WordPress plugin through 0.0.4 does not have any capability check or nonce verification on one of its actions, which runs on every request and is available to unauthenticated users, allowing them to update arbitrary WordPress options. This can be leveraged to enable user registration and set the default role to administrator, leading to privilege escalation and full site takeover.

Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (40.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 41st percentile — 40.5% 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-2026-75860: held from 0.003 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • JSON Options

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-75860?
CVE-2026-75860 is a critical-severity vulnerability in JSON Options, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-20.
How severe is CVE-2026-75860?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.