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Vulnerability record · CVE-2020-36156 · published 4 January 2021

CVE-2020-36156: Ultimatemember ultimate member improper privilege management vulnerability

Ultimatemember · Ultimate Member

An issue was discovered in the Ultimate Member plugin before 2.1.12 for WordPress, aka Authenticated Privilege Escalation via Profile Update. Any user with wp-admin access to the profile.php page could supply the parameter um-role with a value set to any role (e.g., Administrator) during a profile update, and effectively escalate their privileges.

8.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 2.0% · top 19.7% CWE-269 · Improper privilege management
8.8CVSS 3.1 base score, v2 6.5
2.0%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
6References, 4 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

An issue was discovered in the Ultimate Member plugin before 2.1.12 for WordPress, aka Authenticated Privilege Escalation via Profile Update. Any user with wp-admin access to the profile.php page could supply the parameter um-role with a value set to any role (e.g., Administrator) during a profile update, and effectively escalate their privileges.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-member/#developers Release NotesThird Party Advisory
https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/dd4c4ece-7206-4788-8747-f0c0f3ab0a53 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2020/11/critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerabilities-affect-100k-sites-using-ultimate-me ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://wordpress.org/plugins/ultimate-member/#developers Release NotesThird Party Advisory
https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/dd4c4ece-7206-4788-8747-f0c0f3ab0a53 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2020/11/critical-privilege-escalation-vulnerabilities-affect-100k-sites-using-ultimate-me ExploitThird Party Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

9.8CVE-2024-1071Ultimate Member WordPress plugin unauthenticated SQL injection via sorting parameterThe Ultimate Member WordPress plugin fails to properly escape the user-supplied 'sorting' parameter and does not sufficiently prepare the resulting S…EPSS 89%analysed9.8CVE-2023-3460Ultimate Member WordPress plugin privilege escalation via arbitrary capabilitiesThe Ultimate Member WordPress plugin before 2.6.7 fails to restrict the capabilities assigned to newly registered user accounts, letting any visitor …EPSS 72%analysed9.8CVE-2020-36155Ultimatemember ultimate member improper privilege management vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in the Ultimate Member plugin before 2.1.12 for WordPress, aka Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via User Meta. An attacke…EPSS 9.0%9.8CVE-2020-36157Ultimatemember ultimate member vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in the Ultimate Member plugin before 2.1.12 for WordPress, aka Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via User Roles. Due to th…EPSS 3.0%8.8CVE-2023-31216Ultimatemember ultimate member cross-site request forgery vulnerabilityCross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Ultimate Member plugin <= 2.6.0 versions.EPSS 0.27%8.8CVE-2019-10270Ultimatemember ultimate member weak password recovery vulnerabilityAn arbitrary password reset issue was discovered in the Ultimate Member plugin 2.39 for WordPress. It is possible (due to lack of verification and co…EPSS 1.2%8.8CVE-2019-10673Ultimatemember ultimate member cross-site request forgery vulnerabilityA CSRF vulnerability in a logged-in user's profile edit form in the Ultimate Member plugin before 2.0.40 for WordPress allows attackers to become adm…EPSS 1.8%7.5CVE-2025-0308Ultimatemember ultimate member sql injection vulnerabilityThe Ultimate Member – User Profile, Registration, Login, Member Directory, Content Restriction & Membership Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable…EPSS 0.53%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2020-36156), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.