Privilege escalation in Trainingbusinesspros Groundhogg — Crm, Newsletters, And Marketing Automation
CVE-2026-97644
The Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Contact Identity Rebinding in all versions up to, and including, 4.9 The vulnerability exists because the `create_contact` function in the v3 REST endpoint (`POST /gh/v3/contacts`) is gated solely by the `add_contacts` capability and forwards the full request payload — including the security-bearing `user_id` column — into the upsert path of `Contacts_DB::add()`, which bypasses the ownership guard that `Contacts_DB::update()` enforces, allowing an attacker to rebind any existing contact record to an arbitrary WordPress user ID. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Sales Representative-level access and above to upsert their own contact row to point to an Administrator's user ID, then invoke the v4 email-test endpoint (`POST /gh/v4/emails/test`) — also accessible to the Sales Representative role via the `send_emails` capability — to generate an `{auto_login_url}` one-time permissions key bound to the rebound contact, and consume that link to call `wp_set_auth_cookie()` and gain a fully authenticated session as the WordPress Administrator.
Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation
Published .
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.
EPSS exploit prediction
No EPSS score from FIRST.org yet. New CVEs usually get one within a few days; no score means no signal yet, not low risk. How EPSS works.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/557306b7-7b66-465e-8d4d-ebae5…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/api/v3/contacts-api.php
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/db/contacts.php
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/api/v4/emails-api.php
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/includes/replacements…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/includes/rewrites.php
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/groundhogg/tags/4.8.3/includes/main-roles.php
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3724910/groundhogg/trunk/api/v3/contacts-a…
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-97644?
- CVE-2026-97644 is a high-severity vulnerability in Trainingbusinesspros Groundhogg — Crm, Newsletters, And Marketing Automation, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 8.8/10. Published 2026-10-03.
- How severe is CVE-2026-97644?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.8 out of 10.