# CVE-2026-119164: WordPress wpForo Forum plugin privilege escalation in secondary_groupids

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-119164-the-wpforo-forum-plugin-for-wordpress-is-vulnerable-to-privilege  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-11-07. Updated: 2026-11-07  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-119164 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.5 · Published 2026-11-07

The wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress, which manages user forums and discussions, contains a privilege escalation flaw that allows authenticated forum users to promote themselves to administrator. An attacker with a basic subscriber account can inject malicious group IDs to gain full administrative control of the forum, including the ability to modify forum permissions, access policies, and edit other users' content. This requires meeting a minimum post count and having access to a valid security token.

Technologies: [wpForo Forum](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/wpforo-wpforo-forum). Vendors: [wpForo](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/wpforo).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-119164 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-119164 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-119164?** High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.5, published 7 November 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** wpForo Forum up to and including 3.2.2.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-119164?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-119164 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-119164?** Check whether you run wpForo Forum at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A type-confusion vulnerability in the `Members::update()` function incorrectly casts a CSV string parameter to an array before validation, producing an empty array that bypasses the secondary_groupids authorization guard. The downstream `encode()`/`decode()` functions correctly parse the original CSV string and persist the attacker-supplied group IDs to the database, allowing an authenticated attacker to inject the Admin group ID. Exploitation requires Subscriber-level access, at least 3 approved forum posts, and a valid wpforo nonce from the attacker's profile form.

## Affected products

- wpForo wpForo Forum up to and including 3.2.2

## Timeline

- 2026-11-07: disclosed

## References

- [https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/3.2.2/classes/Actions.php](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/3.2.2/classes/Actions.php)
- [https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/3.2.2/classes/Members.php](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/3.2.2/classes/Members.php)

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