Vulnerability · Published Jul 8, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence
CVE-2026-9842Backstage <= 1.4.2 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Permissive Demo Role Capabilities
High 7.5
In plain English
A high-severity privilege mismanagement in Backstage – Customizer Demo Access from pixelgrade. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.4% (higher than 39% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official 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 products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| pixelgrade | Backstage – Customizer Demo Access | 0 – through 1.4.2 |
Weakness: CWE-269 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N