📄 Description (English)
The Read More & Accordion plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 3.5.7. This is due to the 'RadMoreAjax::importData' function not restricting which database tables can be written to during import and not properly validating the imported data. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with permission granted by the site owner through the plugin's role settings, to insert arbitrary rows into the 'wp_users' and 'wp_usermeta' tables, including the 'wp_capabilities' field, allowing them to create a new administrator account and gain administrator access to the site.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2026-7467 is a critical privilege escalation vulnerability in the Read More & Accordion WordPress plugin (versions ≤3.5.7) that allows authenticated users to create administrator accounts by exploiting improper input validation in the import function. Attackers can directly manipulate WordPress user and capability tables to grant themselves full administrative access. With no patch currently available and the vulnerability affecting a widely-used WordPress plugin, this poses immediate risk to Saudi organizations relying on WordPress-based web applications.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: May 21, 2026 19:49
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi government agencies, educational institutions, and private sector organizations using WordPress for web presence. High-risk sectors include: (1) Government entities under NCA oversight using WordPress for public portals; (2) Banking and financial services (SAMA-regulated) using WordPress for customer-facing applications; (3) Healthcare organizations (MOH-regulated) with WordPress-based patient information systems; (4) Telecommunications companies (CITC-regulated) using WordPress for service portals; (5) E-commerce and retail businesses processing transactions. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous as it requires only authenticated access with plugin-granted permissions, making insider threats and compromised lower-privilege accounts critical attack vectors.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government and Public Administration
Banking and Financial Services
Healthcare and Medical Services
Telecommunications
E-commerce and Retail
Education and Universities
Energy and Utilities
Insurance
Real Estate and Property Management
Media and Publishing
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1548 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1548.002 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Bypass User Account Control
T1547 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution
T1098 - Account Manipulation
T1098.001 - Account Manipulation: Additional Cloud Credentials
T1078 - Valid Accounts
T1078.003 - Valid Accounts: Local Accounts
T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application
T1199 - Trusted Relationship
T1566 - Phishing (if combined with social engineering for initial access)
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
8.5
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Disable the Read More & Accordion plugin immediately on all WordPress installations
2. Audit WordPress user accounts and wp_usermeta tables for unauthorized administrator accounts created after plugin installation
3. Review access logs for suspicious import activities via the plugin's RadMoreAjax function
4. Force password reset for all administrator accounts
5. Check wp_capabilities field for unauthorized privilege escalations
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
1. Do not update to any version until official patch is released (currently no patch available)
2. Monitor plugin repository and vendor security advisories daily
3. Subscribe to WordPress security mailing lists for patch notifications
4. Prepare change management procedures for rapid deployment once patch is available
COMPENSATING CONTROLS (until patch available):
1. Restrict plugin access to trusted administrators only via role-based access controls
2. Disable import functionality at the application level if possible
3. Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block requests to RadMoreAjax::importData function
4. Monitor database write operations to wp_users and wp_usermeta tables
5. Implement database activity monitoring (DAM) solutions
6. Restrict database user permissions to minimum required privileges
7. Enable WordPress security logging and audit trails
DETECTION RULES:
1. Monitor for POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=RadMoreAjax
2. Alert on INSERT/UPDATE operations to wp_users table from web application user
3. Alert on modifications to wp_capabilities field in wp_usermeta
4. Monitor for creation of new wp_user_level entries with value 10 (administrator)
5. Track failed and successful authentication attempts for newly created accounts
6. Monitor for unusual database queries containing 'wp_users' or 'wp_usermeta' from plugin context
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تعطيل مكون Read More & Accordion فوراً على جميع تثبيتات WordPress
2. تدقيق حسابات مستخدمي WordPress وجداول wp_usermeta للبحث عن حسابات مسؤول غير مصرح بها
3. مراجعة سجلات الوصول للأنشطة المريبة المتعلقة باستيراد البيانات
4. فرض إعادة تعيين كلمة المرور لجميع حسابات المسؤول
5. التحقق من حقل wp_capabilities للبحث عن تصعيد امتيازات غير مصرح به
إرشادات التصحيح:
1. عدم التحديث إلى أي إصدار حتى يتم إصدار تصحيح رسمي
2. مراقبة مستودع المكونات والإشعارات الأمنية يومياً
3. الاشتراك في قوائم البريد الأمنية لـ WordPress
4. تحضير إجراءات إدارة التغيير للنشر السريع
الضوابط البديلة:
1. تقييد وصول المكون للمسؤولين الموثوقين فقط
2. تعطيل وظيفة الاستيراد على مستوى التطبيق
3. تطبيق قواعد جدار الحماية لحجب طلبات RadMoreAjax
4. مراقبة عمليات الكتابة في جداول wp_users و wp_usermeta
5. تطبيق حلول مراقبة نشاط قاعدة البيانات
6. تقييد صلاحيات مستخدم قاعدة البيانات
7. تفعيل تسجيل التدقيق في WordPress
قواعد الكشف:
1. مراقبة طلبات POST إلى /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php مع RadMoreAjax
2. تنبيهات على عمليات INSERT/UPDATE في جدول wp_users
3. تنبيهات على تعديلات حقل wp_capabilities
4. مراقبة إنشاء حسابات مسؤول جديدة
5. تتبع محاولات المصادقة للحسابات المنشأة حديثاً
6. مراقبة الاستعلامات غير العادية المتعلقة بجداول المستخدمين
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2024 A.5.1.1 - Access Control Policy (unauthorized privilege escalation)
ECC 2024 A.5.2.1 - User Registration and Access Rights Management
ECC 2024 A.5.3.1 - Management of Privileged Access Rights
ECC 2024 A.8.2.1 - User Access Management
ECC 2024 A.12.4.1 - Event Logging (database modifications)
ECC 2024 A.12.4.3 - Protection of Log Information
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF ID.AM-1 - Asset Management (inventory of WordPress installations)
SAMA CSF PR.AC-1 - Access Control Policy and Procedures
SAMA CSF PR.AC-4 - Access Rights and Privileges
SAMA CSF DE.CM-1 - Detection and Analysis (monitoring database changes)
SAMA CSF DE.AE-1 - Anomalies and Events (unauthorized account creation)
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.2 - Information Security Policies
ISO 27001:2022 A.6.2 - Personnel Security
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.2 - Privileged Access Rights
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.3 - Information Access Restriction
ISO 27001:2022 A.12.4 - Logging
ISO 27001:2022 A.14.2 - Software Development and Change Management
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
PCI DSS 2.1 - Configuration Standards
PCI DSS 6.2 - Security Patches and Updates
PCI DSS 7.1 - Limit Access to System Components
PCI DSS 8.1 - User Identification and Authentication
PCI DSS 10.2 - Implement Automated Audit Trails