AIWU WordPress plugin: Privilege escalation to administrator
Summary
The WordPress plugin AIWU (also listed as AI Copilot – Content Generator) up to and including version 1.5.9 contains a privilege escalation flaw classified as CWE-266. According to the CVE record and the Patchstack advisory, a low-privilege user such as a subscriber can gain administrator rights and full control of the website. The CVSS 3.1 vector (9.8) assumes no privileges and no user interaction, but the title refers to a subscriber account, so the actual precondition is not yet fully confirmed.
Affected
- AIWU WordPress plugin (WordPress package ai-copilot-content-generator), all versions up to and including 1.5.9
- Vendor naming differs between sources (Sergey, wupsales); verify the author and slug in the installed plugin header
Fixed in
- Unknown. No vendor or Patchstack statement names a fixed release.
- Version 1.5.9 must not be assumed safe.
Workaround
- No vendor-published mitigation found.
- Restrict or disable the plugin if it is not essential.
- Review whether public registration is enabled and limit account creation.
Exploitation
- CISA SSVC: exploitation none, automatable no.
- Not listed in CISA KEV; no public proof of concept found in the researched sources.
- Patchstack rates the issue as high priority and expects exploitation.
- EPSS about 0.44%.
Our recommendation
- Check whether the AIWU plugin is installed on any site and confirm its version.
- Review WordPress administrator and editor accounts for unexpected role changes.
- Disable the plugin if it is not required, or restrict access to it.
- Monitor the Patchstack page and the WordPress.org changelog for a fixed release and update as soon as one is available.
- Check for and apply any Patchstack virtual patch as an interim measure.
Public exploits
PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit and Exploit-DB list nothing for this CVE.
Research sources
- Patchstack advisory CVE-2026-39801 patchstack.com
- OpenCVE CVE-2026-39801 (CISA SSVC data) app.opencve.io
- Vulners Rapid7 CVE-2026-39801 (EPSS) vulners.com
- HOL Guard CVE-2026-39801 hol.org
- Strix CVE-2026-39801 www.strix.ai
- WPVanguard AI Copilot Content Generator vulnerabilities wpvanguard.com
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, 19:43.
Original description (NVD)
Subscriber Privilege Escalation in AIWU <= 1.5.9 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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