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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2026-19598 json

Pods <= 3.3.9 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass to Admin Methods via 'pods_admin' AJAX Router

published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-08-20 2 mo ago also EUVD-2026-59778

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.5%
EPSS 3.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 89%
public exploits
0
none known, plus a Nuclei check

Summary

The Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.9. The vulnerability exists because the pods_admin AJAX router funnels every access check — including the method allowlist, nonce verification, login enforcement, and capability gate — through pods_error(), which under the JSON meta-box-loader compatibility path only writes failures to the PHP error log and returns false instead of terminating the request, rendering all guards ineffective. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges to Administrator or overwrite the password of any user account, including the site owner's, enabling complete site takeover, or perform another administrator action.

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 mo ago

Exploit prediction

3.52% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 89% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • Nuclei template Pods <= 3.3.9 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via pods_admin AJAX Router nuclei detection template

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields

Classification

Weakness
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.