LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes - Various Versions - Authenticated (Student+) Privilege Escalation

Summary

The LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to allowing them to modify their own role via the REST API. The permission check in the update_item_permissions_check() function returns true when a user updates their own account without verifying the role changes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with student-level access and above, to escalate their privileges to administrator by updating their own roles array via a crafted REST API request. Another endpoint intended for instructors also provides an attack vector. Affected version ranges are 3.5.3-3.41.2, 4.0.0-4.21.3, 5.0.0-5.10.0, 6.0.0-6.11.0, 7.0.0-7.8.7, 8.0.0-8.0.7, 9.0.0-9.0.7, 9.1.0.

Timeline

1. Nov 13, 2025, 3:27 AM UTCCVE published
2. Nov 13, 2025, 2:27 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

3. Nov 13, 2025, 2:34 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• chrisbadgett LifterLMS – WP LMS for eLearning, Online Courses, & Quizzes

  From 3.5.3 · through 3.41.1; From 4.0.0 · through 4.21.3; From 5.0.0 · through 5.10.0; From 6.0.0 · through 6.11.0; From 7.0.0 · through 7.8.7; From 8.0.0 · through 8.0.7; From 9.0.0 · through 9.0.7

References 4