CVE-2026-9851 | Booking Package <= 1.7.16 - Authenticated (Editor+) Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover to updateUser AJAX Action

The Booking Package plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in versions up to, and including, 1.7.16. This is due to a missing capability check on the 'updateUser' branch of the package_app_action AJAX endpoint, where the handler only validates a nonce and the dispatcher invokes Schedule::updateUser() with the $administrator argument hard-coded to 1, bypassing the only owner-restriction check inside that function and allowing the target user to be determined solely by attacker-supplied input passed directly to wp_update_user(). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Editor-level access and above, to change the email address and password of any account, including Administrator accounts, resulting in a full site takeover.

Published: 2026-06-06 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-9851 is rated Low Risk (38.4/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.35%). 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-2026-9851

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 0.05% 0.35% +0.30%
2 2026-06-12 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2026-06-06 0.04%

Full EPSS history (3 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-9851

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.2 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-9851

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-9851

GHSA-9gp9-g392-77v9 · Severity: high — The Booking Package plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account...

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-9851

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-9851

cvelogic Threat Intelligence