CVE-2026-85659

HIGHPre-NVD 8.88.8
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to the CVSS score beside it.

Score 8.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2026-10-16. A secondary CVSS source baseline 8.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, a secondary CVSS source
Trending — 4 sources updated this week
8.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan mitigationRemediate within your standard update timelines (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 0.4%CVSS: 8.8Exploit: None knownExposed services: Not assessed

No fix is confirmed yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for the fix.

The CVE record's CNA (Wordfence) lists ontraport PilotPress versions up to and including 2.0.43 as affected. No release containing a fix is confirmed on record.

The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the update_cc_details() AJAX handler forwards an attacker-supplied username parameter to ONTRAPORT via api_call('update_cc_details', ...) before performing the local username_exists() collision check, and aborts without rolling back the remote rename when a collision is detected — leaving the remote ONTRAPORT contact renamed to an existing WordPress Administrator's login. On a subsequent login attempt, user_login() (hooked to wp_authenticate) authenticates against ONTRAPORT using the renamed login and the attacker's own password, resolves the local WordPress user row via get_user_by('login', $username) — which now selects the real Administrator's row — and calls wp_set_password() against that Administrator's user ID; because the user_level != 10 guard only suppresses PilotPress's own cookie issuance rather than returning a WP_Error to core, WordPress proceeds to validate the newly-synchronized password and issues a full Administrator authentication cookie to the attacker. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above — specifically any PilotPress member holding a valid ONTRAPORT contact and the Customer Center nonce — to fully take over an Administrator account.

CVSS v3
8.8
EG Score
8.8HIGHhigh confidence
EG Risk
40
EG Risk 40/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity88% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 8.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation0.4% × 40%
FIRST EPSS: the 30-day exploitation probability when EchelonGraph scored this CVE.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's SSVC Automatable value: no (Vulnrichment).
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.
EPSS PROB
0.4%
EPSS %ILE
29th
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (8.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 8.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
8.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
0.4% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-17). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).

No fix is confirmed yet. Restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation within your standard update timelines, and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix.

Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact total (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

October 16, 2026

Last Modified

October 16, 2026

References (6)

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-85659(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 15× in last 7d / 15× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

  1. 2026-10-21 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 29th percentile
  2. 2026-10-20 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 29th percentile
  3. 2026-10-19 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 29th percentile
  4. 2026-10-18 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 28th percentile
  5. 2026-10-18 03:05 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-10-17 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 29th percentile
  7. 2026-10-16 16:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.4% · 28th percentile
  8. 2026-10-16 16:00 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-ph8g-mcqh-5p98 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 8.8
  9. 2026-10-16 15:07 UTCEG score recompute
  10. 2026-10-16 15:06 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-ph8g-mcqh-5p98 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 8.8
  11. 2026-10-16 14:35 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-16 14:34 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-ph8g-mcqh-5p98 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 8.8
  13. 2026-10-16 06:26 UTCEG score recompute
  14. 2026-10-16 05:37 UTCEG score recomputeFirst assessed: 8.8 HIGH
  15. 2026-10-16 05:37 UTCMITRE cvelistV5first tracked

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2026-85659?
CVE-2026-85659 is a high-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on October 16, 2026. The PilotPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.43. The vulnerability exists because the updateccdetails() AJAX handler forwards an attacker-supplied username parameter to ONTRAPORT via…
When was the CVE record for CVE-2026-85659 published?
The CVE record for CVE-2026-85659 was published on October 16, 2026. That is the record's publication date; the vulnerability itself may have been made public earlier. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of October 16, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2026-85659 actively exploited?
CVE-2026-85659 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (29th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-85659?
CVE-2026-85659 has a CVSS base score of 8.8 (a secondary CVSS source that NVD displays; NVD's own analysis pending).
How do I remediate CVE-2026-85659?
No fix for CVE-2026-85659 is confirmed yet. Until one is published, restrict network exposure of the affected system or apply the vendor's mitigation — for example, keep it off the internet or limit it to trusted networks — and watch the vendor's advisory for the fix. The CVE record's CNA (Wordfence) lists ontraport PilotPress versions up to and including 2.0.43 as affected. No release containing a fix is confirmed on record. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2026-85659 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

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