# CVE-2026-12251: Ultimate Member WordPress plugin unauthenticated privilege escalation

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-12251-ultimate-member-wordpress-plugin-unauthenticated-privilege  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-31. Updated: 2026-07-31  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-12251 · Severity: info · CVSS 8.1 · Published 2026-07-31

Ultimate Member, a popular WordPress plugin used for user profiles and memberships, contains a security flaw that allows unauthorized visitors to gain full administrative control over a website. This occurs because the plugin fails to prevent users from selecting powerful administrative roles during the registration process. If a site has a registration form with a role-selection field and custom roles with high privileges exist, an attacker can register an account and immediately take over the site, potentially leading to data theft or complete service disruption.

Technologies: [Ultimate Member](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/ultimate-member). Vendors: [Ultimate Member](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/ultimate-member).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-12251 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-12251 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-12251?** Informational severity, with a CVSS score of 8.1, published 31 July 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Ultimate Member < 2.12.1.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-12251?** A patch was published on 2026-07-14: Fix released in version 2.12.1 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-12251 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-12251?** Check whether you run Ultimate Member 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

The Ultimate Member plugin for WordPress suffers from an unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability in versions prior to 2.12.1. The root cause is a failure to filter roles with administrator-level capabilities from the selectable options in registration forms. Additionally, the plugin's default configuration disables post-registration safeguards intended to prevent account elevation. An attacker can exploit this by submitting a registration request with a role-selection field pointing to a site-defined role that possesses administrative privileges. This requires the target site to have a published registration form with a role-selection field and at least one custom role with elevated capabilities. The issue is resolved in version 2.12.1.

## Affected products

- Ultimate Member Ultimate Member < 2.12.1

## Timeline

- 2026-07-14: disclosed: Publicly published by WPScan
- 2026-07-31: advisory: NVD publication date
- 2026-07-14: patched: Fix released in version 2.12.1

## References

- [https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/dd394110-cf3c-4158-8b50-7abb8a23a2be/](https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/dd394110-cf3c-4158-8b50-7abb8a23a2be/)

## Related threats

- [Ultimate Member plugin stored cross-site scripting in textarea field](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-116621-the-ultimate-member-user-profile-registration-login-member)
- [Ultimate Member plugin PHP object injection](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115968-deserialization-of-untrusted-data-vulnerability-in-ultimate)
- [Ultimate Member WordPress plugin Stored XSS in user_url parameter](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-107625-the-ultimate-member-user-profile-registration-login-member)
- [Ultimate Member privilege escalation in role assignment](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-96539-incorrect-privilege-assignment-vulnerability-in-ultimate-member)
- [Ultimate Member privilege escalation in user authorization](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-96451-authorization-bypass-through-user-controlled-key-vulnerability-in)