Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-24971

Critical

Published: 25 March 2026

Published
25 March 2026
Modified
24 April 2026
KEV Added
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Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0032 23.7th percentile
Risk Priority 70 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-24971 is a critical-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 23.7th 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 AC-6 (Least Privilege).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2026-24971 is an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability (CWE-266) in the Search & Go WordPress theme developed by Elated-Themes. This flaw allows privilege escalation and affects all versions of the Search & Go theme from n/a through 2.8 inclusive. The vulnerability was published on 2026-03-25 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting its critical severity.

An unauthenticated attacker (PR:N) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) with low attack complexity (AC:L) and without requiring user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation enables privilege escalation, resulting in high impacts to confidentiality (C:H), integrity (I:H), and availability (A:H) within the affected WordPress environment.

The Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Theme/searchgo/vulnerability/wordpress-search-go-theme-2-8-privilege-escalation-vulnerability?_s_id=cve provides further details on this vulnerability in the Search & Go WordPress theme.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in Elated-Themes Search & Go searchgo allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Search & Go: from n/a through <= 2.8.

CWE(s)
CWE-266

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
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 →
Why these techniques?

Unauthenticated network exploitation of incorrect privilege assignment in public-facing WordPress theme directly enables initial access via public app exploitation (T1190) and immediate privilege escalation (T1068).

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-27983Shared CWE-266
CVE-2024-13421Shared CWE-266
CVE-2024-51888Shared CWE-266
CVE-2026-32488Shared CWE-266
CVE-2026-24968Shared CWE-266
CVE-2025-67953Shared CWE-266
CVE-2026-24373Shared CWE-266
CVE-2025-68027Shared CWE-266
CVE-2025-49388Shared CWE-266
CVE-2026-23550Shared CWE-266

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly mitigates the CVE by requiring timely identification, reporting, and correction of the incorrect privilege assignment flaw in the Search & Go WordPress theme.

AC-6 Least Privilege good match
prevent

Employs the principle of least privilege to limit the scope and impact of privilege escalation from the vulnerability's improper privilege assignment.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match
prevent

Enforces approved access authorizations, countering the unauthenticated privilege escalation enabled by the theme's flawed privilege checks.

References