CVE-2026-6965 | Tutor LMS <= 3.9.9 - Insecure Direct Object Reference to Authenticated (Instructor+) Arbitrary Post Deletion via 'course' GET Parameter

The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference in versions up to and including 3.9.9. This is due to the `get_course_id_by()` function unconditionally trusting the user-supplied `course` GET parameter as the authoritative course ID for content ownership lookups, which is then consumed by `can_user_manage()`, the plugin's sole authorization gate for instructor-level operations, causing it to evaluate instructor membership against the attacker-controlled course rather than the course that actually owns the target content object. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with instructor-level access and above, to perform unauthorized operations on any other instructor's course content, including permanently deleting lessons, assignments, quizzes (with cascading deletion of all student attempt data), topics, announcements, and Q&A threads, as well as creating or modifying lessons, topics, and announcements in victim courses, manipulating student quiz grades, and reading unpublished lesson and quiz content.

Published: 2026-05-13 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-6965 is rated Low Risk (29.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.30%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-6965

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.08% 0.30% +0.22%
2 2026-05-19 0.04% 0.08% +0.04%
3 2026-05-13 0.04%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-6965

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-6965

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-6965

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-6965

URL Tags
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Ajax.php#L294
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Ajax.php#L507
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Ajax.php#L586
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Announcements.php#L105
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Course.php#L1997
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Course.php#L2045
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Lesson.php#L186
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Lesson.php#L243
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Lesson.php#L341
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Q_And_A.php#L219
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Q_And_A.php#L297
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Q_And_A.php#L339
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Quiz.php#L1007
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Quiz.php#L1041
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Quiz.php#L888
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Utils.php#L7829
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Utils.php#L8020
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Ajax.php#L294
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Ajax.php#L507
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Ajax.php#L586
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Announcements.php#L105
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Course.php#L1997
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Course.php#L2045
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Lesson.php#L186
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Lesson.php#L243
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Lesson.php#L341
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Q_And_A.php#L219
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Q_And_A.php#L297
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Q_And_A.php#L339
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Quiz.php#L1007
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Quiz.php#L1041
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Quiz.php#L888
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Utils.php#L7829
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Utils.php#L8020
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Ajax.php#L294
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Ajax.php#L507
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Ajax.php#L586
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Announcements.php#L105
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Course.php#L1997
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Course.php#L2045
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Lesson.php#L186
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Lesson.php#L243
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Lesson.php#L341
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Q_And_A.php#L219
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Q_And_A.php#L297
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Q_And_A.php#L339
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Quiz.php#L1007
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Quiz.php#L1041
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Quiz.php#L888
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Utils.php#L7829
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Utils.php#L8020
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3518400%40tutor&new=3518400%40tutor&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/55924ea3-373c-4297-a958-5670def1f6c0?source=cve
cvelogic Threat Intelligence