CVE-2026-1994

Critical

Published: 19 February 2026

Published

19 February 2026

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

—

Patch

—

CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0010 27.7th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-1994 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 27.7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-5 (Authenticator Management).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 2 other techniques. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

prevent

IA-5 requires verifying the identity of the requester prior to changing passwords, directly preventing the unauthenticated password updates exploited in this CVE.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

AC-3 enforces approved authorizations for access to system resources, mitigating the plugin's failure to validate identity before password changes.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

SI-2 mandates timely remediation of identified flaws, directly addressing this plugin vulnerability through patching as recommended in the analysis.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.

attack.mitre.org →

T1098 Account Manipulation Persistence

Adversaries may manipulate accounts to maintain and/or elevate access to victim systems.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Unauthenticated exploitation of a public-facing WordPress plugin (T1190) allows arbitrary password changes, enabling privilege escalation (T1068) via account manipulation (T1098).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

The s2Member plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 260127. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their password. This makes…

it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change arbitrary user's passwords, including administrators, and leverage that to gain access to their account.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-1994 is a privilege escalation vulnerability affecting the s2Member plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 260127. The flaw stems from the plugin's failure to properly validate a user's identity before allowing password updates, enabling unauthorized password changes. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) and is associated with CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. By targeting the password update mechanism, they can change the passwords of arbitrary users, including administrators, thereby achieving full account takeover and potential complete compromise of the affected WordPress site.

References point to the vulnerable code in src/includes/classes/registrations.inc.php at line 74, a patch applied in changeset 3461625, and threat intelligence details from Wordfence, recommending updates to a fixed version of the s2Member plugin to mitigate the issue.