CVE-2026-4261
The Expire Users plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.
Executive Summary
CVE-2026-4261 is a high severity vulnerability affecting binary-analysis. It is classified as Missing Authorization. Ensure your systems and dependencies are patched immediately to mitigate exposure risks.
Precogs AI Insight
"This critical flaw stems from within The Expire Users plugin, allowing bypassed validation checks on external interactions. In practice, this allows unauthorized actors to compromise the entire application stack, rendering traditional defenses ineffective. Precogs Binary SAST detects lifecycle mismanagement and dangling pointers to alert security teams to imminent boundary violations."
What is this vulnerability?
CVE-2026-4261 is categorized as a critical Memory Corruption Vulnerability flaw. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.
The Expire Users plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.2.2. This is due to the plugin allowing...
This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CVSS Base Score | 8.8 (HIGH) |
| Vector String | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Published | March 21, 2026 |
| Last Modified | March 21, 2026 |
| Related CWEs | CWE-862 |
Impact on Systems
✅ Remote Code Execution: Adversaries may execute arbitrary code by overwriting memory regions.
✅ Denial of Service: Memory corruption often leads to unrecoverable application crashes.
✅ Information Disclosure: Out-of-bounds reads can expose adjacent memory containing sensitive data.
How to fix this issue?
Implement the following strategic mitigations immediately to eliminate the attack surface.
1. Memory-Safe Languages When possible, migrate parsing logic to memory-safe languages like Rust or Go.
2. Compiler Protections Ensure the binary is compiled with ASLR, DEP/NX, Stack Canaries, and RELRO.
3. Fuzz Testing Implement continuous fuzzing with AddressSanitizer (ASan) in the CI/CD pipeline.
Vulnerability Signature
// Generic Memory Corruption Vector (C/C++)
void process_input(char *user_data, size_t size) \{
char buffer[256];
// DANGEROUS: Unbounded memory operation
memcpy(buffer, user_data, size); // size may exceed 256
// SECURED: Bound-checked operation
if (size \> sizeof(buffer)) \{
size = sizeof(buffer);
\}
memcpy(buffer, user_data, size);
\}
References and Sources
- NVD — CVE-2026-4261
- MITRE — CVE-2026-4261
- CWE-862 — MITRE CWE
- CWE-862 Details
- Binary Analysis Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability Code Signature
Attack Data Flow
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Network packet or file input |
| Vector | Data exceeds the allocated buffer bounds during a copy operation |
| Sink | strcpy(), memcpy(), or pointer arithmetic |
| Impact | Memory corruption, Remote Code Execution (RCE) |
Vulnerable Code Pattern
// ❌ VULNERABLE: Memory Corruption
void process_data(char *input) {
char buffer[128];
// Taint sink: copies without bounds checking
strcpy(buffer, input);
}
Secure Code Pattern
// ✅ SECURE: Bounded Memory Operations
void process_data(char *input) {
char buffer[128];
// Sanitized boundary check
strncpy(buffer, input, sizeof(buffer) - 1);
buffer[sizeof(buffer) - 1] = '\0';
}
How Precogs Detects This
Precogs Binary SAST engine explicitly uncovers memory boundary violations and unsafe memory management functions in compiled binaries.\n