CVE-2026-11977

MediumCVSS 6.5

Published: 05/08/2026(UTC)Updated: 12/08/2026(UTC)Translated: 05/08/2026(UTC)NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk

0.25%

16th percentile - higher than 16% of all known CVEs

Summary

The WP Post Author plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via the 'wpma_metabox_authors_list' parameter in all versions up to and including 3.9.1. Authenticated attackers with author-level access can append additional SQL queries to extract sensitive information from the database. Exploitation is a two-step chain involving saving a crafted guest-author token and triggering the injection when an admin loads the post list screen.

Risk Assessment

The risk involves potential theft of sensitive data from the WordPress database, such as passwords, user data, or other confidential information. The attack requires an author-level account but can be executed without the admin's knowledge.

Recommendation

Immediately update the WP Post Author plugin to the latest patched version. Additionally, consider restricting author permissions and regularly audit logs for unusual SQL queries.

Other vulnerabilities in WP Post Author

CVE-2026-57643High
The WP Post Author plugin version 3.9.1 and earlier contains a SQL injection vulnerability in the Contributor function. This allows an attacker to manipulate database queries.

Original NVD description (English source)

The WP Post Author – Author Box, Multiple Authors, Guest Authors & Custom Avatars plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to generic SQL Injection via the 'wpma_metabox_authors_list' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 3.9.1 due to insufficient escaping on the user supplied parameter and lack of sufficient preparation on the existing SQL query. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. Exploitation is a two-step chain: an attacker first saves a crafted guest-author token via the wpma_metabox_authors_list parameter during post creation or editing, then triggers the injection when any admin user loads the post list screen at /wp-admin/edit.php, causing the injected SQL result to be rendered in the Authors column.