Meta Box AIO: Unauthenticated privilege escalation in WordPress plugin
Summary
The WordPress plugin Meta Box AIO up to and including version 3.7.1 contains a privilege escalation flaw (CWE-266). An unauthenticated attacker can exploit it to gain administrator rights and take full control of the website. No user interaction is required, and the CVSS score is 9.8 (critical).
Affected
- Meta Box AIO WordPress plugin, all versions up to and including 3.7.1 (per CVE record and Patchstack; not confirmed by the vendor)
Fixed in
Unknown. Patchstack reports that no official patch is available. Sibling flaw CVE-2026-13355 is fixed in versions newer than 3.11.0.
Workaround
- No vendor-sanctioned workaround found.
- Disable the plugin if its extensions are not in use.
- Restrict or block access to the WordPress admin area where possible.
- Patchstack offers virtual patching for this vulnerability, but it is a third-party product.
Exploitation
- Not marked as known exploited in the sources checked.
- No public proof of concept found.
- Patchstack expects exploitation, but this is a prediction and not evidence of attacks.
Our recommendation
- Check all WordPress sites for Meta Box AIO and its version.
- Prioritise sites with public frontend forms.
- Update to the newest available release, at minimum past 3.11.0, or disable the plugin if it is not needed.
- Review administrator and recently created user accounts for unexpected entries.
- Monitor the vendor changelog and the NVD record for a confirmed fixed version.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Patchstack advisory patchstack.com
- Strix CVE-2026-39761 www.strix.ai
- HOL CVE-2026-39761 hol.org
- OpenCVE CVE-2026-13355 app.opencve.io
- Wordfence CVE-2026-14488 www.wordfence.com
- Meta Box AIO documentation docs.metabox.io
Researched and written up in English and German by an AI (Claude by Anthropic) based on NVD, CISA, EPSS and the sources listed. The vendor information is authoritative. Researched on 30 Oct 2026, 21:11.
Original description (NVD)
Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation in Meta Box AIO <= 3.7.1 versions.
Sources
The tracker combines official, freely usable data sources – updated continuously:
- NVD (NIST) – CVEs, rating (CVSS), affected products
- CISA KEV – vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA as actively exploited
- CISA Vulnrichment – CISA assessment (SSVC) in the official CVE record
- FIRST EPSS – probability of exploitation
- Microsoft MSRC – Patch Tuesday: vulnerabilities, severity, updates
- PoC-in-GitHub – public proof-of-concept repositories
- Metasploit (Rapid7) – modules of the Metasploit Framework
- Exploit-DB (OffSec) – archive of public exploits (links only)
- Patch days: official vendor pages (linked per vendor) (Vendor patch days)
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS data © FIRST.org.
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