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Vulnerabilities and Security Researches

Backstage – Customizer Demo Access, CVE-2026-9842

CVE, Research URL

CVE-2026-9842

Published on
Jul 08, 2026
Research Description
The Backstage - Customizer Demo Access plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.2. This is due to the plugin assigning the `manage_options` capability to the `backstage_customizer_user` demo role, which is more permissive than necessary for Customizer-only demo access. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to navigate beyond the Customizer and update arbitrary WordPress options such as `default_role`, leading to privilege escalation.
Affected versions
max 1.4.2.
Status
vulnerable