Groundhogg <= 4.9 - Authenticated (Sales Person+) Privilege Escalation via Contact Identity Rebinding leading to Administrator Account Takeover to 'user_id' Parameter (v3 /contacts) chained with v4 /emails/test
The Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Contact Identity Rebinding in all versions up to, and including, 4.9 The vulnerability exists because the create_contact function in the v3 REST endpoint (POST /gh/v3/contacts) is gated solely by the add_contacts capability and forwards the full request payload — including the security-bearing user_id column — into the upsert path of Contacts_DB::add(), which bypasses the ownership guard that Contacts_DB::update() enforces, allowing an attacker to rebind any existing contact record to an arbitrary WordPress user ID. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Sales Representative-level access and above to upsert their own contact row to point to an Administrator's user ID, then invoke the v4 email-test endpoint (POST /gh/v4/emails/test) — also accessible to the Sales Representative role via the send_emails capability — to generate an {auto_login_url} one-time permissions key bound to the rebound contact, and consume that link to call wp_set_auth_cookie() and gain a fully authenticated session as the WordPress Administrator.
Affected software
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| Platform | Package | Vulnerable versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress plugin | Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation | <= 4.9 | 4.9.1 |
References
- CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Weakness (CWE)
CWE-269- Platform
- WordPress
- Package
Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation- Disclosed
- 02.10.2026
- Updated
- 11.10.2026 10:22
Sources and licenses
Wordfence Intelligence - 557306b7-7b66-465e-8d4d-ebae5b1577c9 - Wordfence Intelligence
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Vulnerability history: Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation
All published vulnerabilities of this package (WordPress plugin), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.
- Total entries
- 41
- First → latest
- 04.2019 10.2026
- Without a fix
- 0
- Exploited in attacks
- 0
Severity breakdown
- High 15
- Medium 26
Disclosures per year
- 2019: 3
- 2020: 0
- 2021: 0
- 2022: 0
- 2023: 10
- 2024: 2
- 2025: 8
- 2026: 18
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Groundhogg <= 4.9 - Authenticated (Sales Person+) Privilege Escalation via Contact Identity Rebinding leading to Administrator Account Takeover to 'user_id' Parameter (v3 /contacts) chained with v4 /emails/test this entry
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