WP Human Resource Management 2.0.0 - 2.2.17 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Employee+) Privilege Escalation via wp_ajax_hrm_insert_employee AJAX Action
Affected versions: 2.0.0-2.2.17
Vulnerability type: CWE-862 Missing Authorization
Affected software, patched versions and attribution
The WP Human Resource Management plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation due to missing authorization in the ajax_insert_employee() and update_empoyee() functions in versions 2.0.0 through 2.2.17. The AJAX handler reads the client-supplied $_POST['role'] and, after basic cleaning via hrm_clean(), passes it directly to wp_insert_user() and later to $user->set_role() without verifying that the current user is allowed to assign that role. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Employee-level access and above, to elevate their privileges to administrator.
WP Human Resource Management
Affected versions: 2.0.0-2.2.17
Patched versions: Not supplied
Researcher credit: kr0d
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- Published
- July 3, 2025
- CVSS
- 8.8