Debugger & Troubleshooter: Privilege escalation or authentication bypass
Debugger & Troubleshooter is affected by privilege escalation or authentication bypass. The vulnerable path is reachable without authentication. A successful request can grant permissions or access that the caller should not possess. The published affected range is <= 1.3.2.
- Component
- Debugger & Troubleshooter
- Plugin slug
debugger-troubleshooter- Affected
- <= 1.3.2
- Safe version
> 1.3.2- Published
- Mar 30, 2026
This CVE was published Mar 30, 2026 and is one of 1 known issue for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update Debugger & Troubleshooter to a release after 1.3.2, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.
Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.
Technical description
The Debugger & Troubleshooter plugin for WordPress was vulnerable to Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation in versions up to and including 1.3.2. This was due to the plugin accepting the wp_debug_troubleshoot_simulate_user cookie value directly as a user ID without any cryptographic validation or authorization checks. The cookie value was used to override the determine_current_user filter, which allowed unauthenticated attackers to impersonate any user by simply setting the cookie to their target user ID. This made it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain administrator-level access and perform any privileged actions including creating new administrator accounts, modifying site content, installing plugins, or taking complete control of the WordPress site. The vulnerability was fixed in version 1.4.0 by implementing a cryptographic token-based validation system where only administrators can initiate user simulation, and the cookie contains a random 64-character token that must be validated against database-stored mappings rather than accepting arbitrary user IDs.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H