High severity · published Sep 23, 2026
CVE-2026-86583
Import and export users and customers <= 2.4.17 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via CSV Escape-Character Mismatch in Export/Import Round Trip via display_name and nickname Profile Fields
8.8
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
The Import and export users and customers plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.17 via the plugin's own export and re-import workflow. The vulnerability exists because the exporter writes CSV cells using fputcsv() with a NUL byte (\0) as the escape character, while the importer parses the same file using SplFileObject::fgetcsv() with only a single delimiter argument, causing PHP's default backslash escape character to be applied instead; because the export column layout places display_name immediately before the role column and nickname immediately after, an attacker can store crafted values in those two profile fields — saved by WordPress core via the standard profile page — such that the escape mismatch causes the parser to merge the display_name cell into the role field and rebalance the column count via nickname, yielding administrator as the parsed role for their own row when it reaches the import_user function's add_role function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or above to escalate their privileges to Administrator. Exploitation requires a site administrator to trigger the plugin's documented export re-import migration with both "Update existing users" and "Update roles for existing users" set to "yes".
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 36% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
IA
Import and export users and customers · carazo
through 2.4.17 · source: vendor
Affected product
IA
Import and export users and customers
carazo
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-86583
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-86583
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/batch_exporter.php#L459
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/helper.php#L78
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/import.php#L1356
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/import.php#L872
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/import-users-from-csv-with-meta/tags/2.4.17/classes/import.php#L888
plugins.trac.wordpress.org
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3687349/import-users-from-csv-with-meta
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