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HuttenlocherTechnologies
CriticalCVSS 9.8WordPress plugins & themes

CVE-2026-8809

Advanced Custom Fields: Extended: Privilege Escalation

The Advanced Custom Fields: Extended plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Validation Bypass in all versions up to and including 0.9.2.5. The vulnerability exists due to the after_validate_save_post() function unconditionally trusting the attacker-controlled _acf_post_id POST parameter — with no authentication or integrity verification — to select a cleanup branch that silently discards all validation errors not prefixed with acfe:. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to suppress both the role allow-list validation error added by acfe_field_user_roles::validate_front_value() and the administrator-role capability guard error added by acfe_module_form_action_user::validate_action(), causing wp_insert_user() to execute with an attacker-supplied administrator role argument and resulting in the creation of a new administrator-level user account. Exploitation requires the target site to expose a public ACFE frontend form configured with a Create User action that maps a role field.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by Wordfence

What to do: Affects up to 0.9.2.5. Update Advanced Custom Fields: Extended to the newest version and check its changelog mentions this fix; if there isn’t one yet, deactivate it until there is.

What it means for a small business

Advanced Custom Fields: Extended is a WordPress plugin. If your website uses it, the flaw is on your site whether or not anyone has noticed yet: attackers scan the whole internet for the plugins with published flaws, usually within days of a record like this one going public.

Most small-business sites run 15 to 40 plugins, and few owners know the list. You can check from WordPress itself (Plugins, then Installed Plugins), or let our free plugin check look it up by name.

Check your own setup

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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