High-Risk Privilege Escalation Vulnerability in WordPress Plugin aBlocks

• •Vulnerability allows privilege escalation for authenticated users with Contributor access.
• •Affected versions include all up to 2.17.0 of the aBlocks plugin.
• •Sites allowing public registrations are at high risk and should review user permissions.

The aBlocks plugin for WordPress, affecting versions up to 2.17.0, is vulnerable to privilege escalation via the `/ablocks/v1/form-builder/registration` REST endpoint. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access to escalate their roles to Editor or other non-administrator roles without proper verification. The flaw arises from the endpoint being registered with a permissive callback and reading `roleSlug` from user-controlled attributes. As a result, a low-privilege account could gain significant control over site content, leading to unauthorized publishing or phishing risks. The vulnerability is categorized as high priority, particularly for sites allowing public registrations or guest contributions. No current exploitation or threat intelligence status has been reported. Administrators are advised to review user roles and inspect access logs for unusual activity.