Description
The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order->email )) and, when $order->user_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.
Published: 2026-11-03
Score: 8.1 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
AI Analysis

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Remediation

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History

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The Easy Digital Downloads plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass leading to administrator account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.7.2. During a PayPal guest checkout, the email address entered in the guest-checkout field is trusted as proof of identity: edd_get_purchase_form_user() binds the new guest order to an existing WordPress user purely on an email-address match, rewriting the order's user_id to that user's ID. The PayPal capture sink PurchaseUser::maybe_log_in_after_capture() then looked the user up by the order email (get_user_by( 'email', $order->email )) and, when $order->user_id equalled that user's ID (which the email-binding step guarantees), issued an authenticated session with wp_set_auth_cookie(). An unauthenticated attacker who starts a guest checkout using an administrator's email address (where that administrator has no existing EDD customer record) and completes the PayPal purchase flow therefore receives an authenticated session as that administrator — a full account takeover. The same sink is reachable through the standard PayPal checkout and the REST UnbrandedCard and Fastlane flows.
Title Easy Digital Downloads <= 3.7.2 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass to Administrator Account Takeover via Guest Checkout Email Binding at PayPal Capture
Weaknesses CWE-287
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


Subscriptions

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Wordfence

Published:

Updated: 2026-11-03T04:43:10.981Z

Reserved: 2026-11-02T16:20:54.723Z

Link: CVE-2026-120538

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Deferred

Published: 2026-11-03T05:18:32.193

Modified: 2026-11-03T05:18:32.370

Link: CVE-2026-120538

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses