Auth bypass in Shortpixel Enable Media Replace

CVE-2026-85655

The Enable Media Replace plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 4.2.2. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to modify the post_content of any published post referencing the replaced media — including Administrator-owned posts — making changes immediately visible to unauthenticated visitors. The doReplaceQuery() method performs a database-wide search-and-replace across all posts containing the old media URL without any per-post capability check, meaning a single Author-triggered request can silently overwrite a large number of posts that WordPress's standard admin UI and REST API would otherwise forbid that user from editing.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (19.5th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 20th percentile — 19.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

The 30-day trend appears once there are two daily scores.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-85655?
CVE-2026-85655 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Shortpixel Enable Media Replace, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 4.3/10. Published 2026-10-28.
How severe is CVE-2026-85655?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.3 out of 10.