# CVE-2026-18962: WP Photo Album Plus privilege escalation in file upload

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18962-wp-photo-album-plus-privilege-escalation-in-file-upload  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-08-12. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-18962 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4.3 · Published 2026-08-12

WP Photo Album Plus is a WordPress plugin that allows galleries and photo albums to be embedded on websites. The plugin fails to verify user permissions when processing front-end photo uploads, allowing low-privileged users (such as Subscribers) to upload files into albums owned by administrators or other users. An attacker with a basic user account can add arbitrary photos to restricted albums without authorization, potentially defacing galleries or injecting malicious content into sensitive albums.

Technologies: [WP Photo Album Plus](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/photo-album-plus). Vendors: [WP Photo Album Plus](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/wp-photo-album-plus).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-18962 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-18962 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-18962?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4.3, published 12 August 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** WP Photo Album Plus before 9.2.09.002.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-18962?** A patch was published on 2026-08-12: version 9.2.09.002 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-18962 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a web application.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-18962?** Check whether you run WP Photo Album Plus 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

This is an authorization bypass vulnerability (IDOR - Insecure Direct Object Reference) in the WP Photo Album Plus plugin's front-end upload handler. The plugin processes file uploads without validating whether the current user has permission to upload into the target album. An authenticated user can extract a publicly visible album crypt token and nonce from the gallery page and submit a POST request (to either the gallery page or admin-ajax.php) to upload files into any album, regardless of ownership or access restrictions. The vulnerability requires the plugin's front-end user upload feature to be explicitly enabled (not enabled by default). The issue is fixed in version 9.2.09.002 and later.

## Affected products

- WP Photo Album Plus WP Photo Album Plus before 9.2.09.002

## Timeline

- 2026-08-10: disclosed
- 2026-08-12: patched: version 9.2.09.002

## References

- [https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/146079f7-d4e5-4f1e-a715-f681fc33ed6a/](https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/146079f7-d4e5-4f1e-a715-f681fc33ed6a/)

## Related threats

- [WP Photo Album Plus CSRF in comment deletion](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-110983-the-wp-photo-album-plus-wordpress-plugin-before-9-3-04-004-does)
- [WP Photo Album Plus reflected XSS in category navigation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-110981-the-wp-photo-album-plus-wordpress-plugin-before-9-2-11-002-does)
- [WP Photo Album Plus authenticated command injection via ImageMagick](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-92115-the-wp-photo-album-plus-plugin-for-wordpress-is-vulnerable-to)
- [WP Photo Album Plus stored XSS via X-Forwarded-For parameter](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18579-wp-photo-album-plus-stored-xss-via-x-forwarded-for-parameter)
- [WordPress WP Photo Album Plus unauthenticated option disclosure](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-18049-wordpress-wp-photo-album-plus-unauthenticated-option-disclosure)