Published April 11, 2026 · Updated April 11, 2026
CVE-2026-5144 is a Privilege Escalation vulnerability in the BuddyPress Groupblog plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to 1.9.3. Attackers with Subscriber-level access can exploit this flaw to gain Administrator-level access on the main site of a Multisite network by manipulating user input parameters. To mitigate this risk, immediately update the BuddyPress Groupblog plugin to the latest version and review user roles and permissions on your WordPress sites.
The BuddyPress Groupblog plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.9.3. This is due to the group blog settings handler accepting the `groupblog-blogid`, `default-member`, and `groupblog-silent-add` parameters from user input without proper authorization checks. The `groupblog-blogid` parameter allows any group admin (including Subscribers who create their own group) to associate their group with any blog on the Multisite network, including the main site (blog ID 1). The `default-member` parameter accepts any WordPress role, including `administrator`, without validation against a whitelist. When combined with `groupblog-silent-add`, any user who joins the attacker's group is automatically added to the targeted blog with the injected role. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to escalate any user (including themselves via a second account) to Administrator on the main site of the Multisite network.
CVE-2026-5144 in the BuddyPress Groupblog plugin allows privilege escalation in WordPress Multisite. Update the plugin and review roles promptly.