Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-1271 affects the ProfileGrid WordPress plugin. A logged-in low-privilege user could change another user’s profile or cover image, including an administrator’s. The impact is limited to integrity of profile imagery, but it can enable impersonation, brand damage, or user trust issues on community sites.
Executive priority
Address in the normal vulnerability remediation cycle, faster for public community sites. This is not a system takeover issue based on current sources, but it can affect trust, impersonation risk, and administrator profile integrity.
Technical view
The issue is an IDOR/CWE-639 in ProfileGrid through 5.9.7.2. The pm_upload_image and pm_upload_cover_image AJAX paths call update_user_meta() outside the intended authorization check in crop.php and coverimg_crop.php. Sources describe authenticated Subscriber-level attackers modifying arbitrary users’ profile picture or cover image. CVSS is listed as 5.3, medium.
Likely exposure
WordPress sites using ProfileGrid – User Profiles, Groups and Communities versions up to and including 5.9.7.2 are the relevant exposure. Risk is higher where public registration, community features, or many low-privilege accounts exist.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing or active exploitation. The vulnerability is remotely reachable through WordPress AJAX functionality but, per the description, requires an authenticated Subscriber-level user or higher.
Researcher notes
The affected code paths are public/partials/crop.php and public/partials/coverimg_crop.php. The core issue is user metadata modification occurring outside authorization logic. Source data names versions through 5.9.7.2, but the provided bundle does not clearly name a fixed release.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory all WordPress sites for the ProfileGrid plugin and installed version.
- Update ProfileGrid beyond 5.9.7.2 if a vendor-supported fixed release is available.
- If immediate update is unavailable, review vendor guidance and consider disabling affected profile image features.
- Limit untrusted account creation until remediation is complete.
- Monitor profile and cover image changes for administrator and high-trust accounts.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether ProfileGrid is installed and version is 5.9.7.2 or earlier.
- Review Wordfence and WordPress plugin repository references for current fixed-version guidance.
- Compare local plugin files against the referenced WordPress Trac changeset.
- Check logs or database history for unexpected profile or cover image changes.
- Verify low-privilege users cannot alter other users’ profile imagery after remediation.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
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ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-639: Exact CWE lookup
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Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-1271 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N3.91.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/712535ce-8c38-4944-aa0a-36d9bacaeb67?source=cveCVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/trunk/public/partials/crop.php#L73CVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/trunk/public/partials/coverimg_crop.php#L60CVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/tags/5.9.6.7/public/partials/crop.php#L73CVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities/tags/5.9.6.7/public/partials/coverimg_crop.php#L60CVE reference
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3448434%40profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities&new=3448434%40profilegrid-user-profiles-groups-and-communities&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.