Medium severity · published Oct 28, 2026
CVE-2026-85655
Enable Media Replace <= 4.2.2 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Author+) Post Content Modification via Media Replacement Workflow
New
4.3
CVSS
–
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The Enable Media Replace plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 4.2.2. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with author-level access and above, to modify the post_content of any published post referencing the replaced media — including Administrator-owned posts — making changes immediately visible to unauthenticated visitors. The doReplaceQuery() method performs a database-wide search-and-replace across all posts containing the old media URL without any per-post capability check, meaning a single Author-triggered request can silently overwrite a large number of posts that WordPress's standard admin UI and REST API would otherwise forbid that user from editing.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
EM
Enable Media Replace · shortpixel
through 4.2.2 · source: vendor
Affected product
EM
Enable Media Replace
shortpixel
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