WordPress security changelog
HIGH CVE-2026-78175 Received

Tutor LMS withdrawal metadata permits subscriber object injection

Tutor LMS through 4.0.7 passes attacker-controlled withdraw_method_field data through esc_sql(), serializes it into user metadata with update_user_meta(), and later retrieves malformed length declarations that let unserialize() consume attacker-controlled bytes. The tutor_save_withdraw_account AJAX handler relies on a nonce but lacks a role or capability check, so a subscriber can inject an object and use the plugin's bundled PayPal/Guzzle classes to write executable content. Registration can make the path effectively unauthenticated when monetization is enabled.

CVE / CNA score 8.8 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com
NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.
Component
Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution
Plugin slug
tutor
Affected
<= 4.0.7
Safe version
See mitigation notes
Published
Sep 12, 2026
Weakness
CWE-502 — Deserialization of Untrusted Data

This CVE was published Sep 12, 2026 and is one of 46 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

No fixed release is confirmed in the authoritative export. Disable monetization or the plugin pending a vendor-confirmed fix. The application-level fix must authorize withdrawal-account changes, strictly allowlist fields, avoid serialized attacker data, and remove any object-deserialization path from stored metadata.

No confirmed safe version is listed. Consider a vendor-supported patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality while you assess the risk.

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.

Source record

Technical description

The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 4.0.7 via the `withdraw_method_field` parameter of the `tutor_save_withdraw_account` AJAX handler. This is due to the handler lacking any capability or role check, relying solely on a nonce, while also passing attacker-supplied values through `esc_sql()`, which replaces every `%` character with a 66-byte HMAC placeholder token before the data is serialized and stored via `update_user_meta()`; when the meta is later retrieved, the placeholder is collapsed back to a single `%`, leaving serialized string length declarations 65 bytes greater than the actual content, and because array keys originate from entirely unescaped POST field names, `unserialize()` over-reads into attacker-controlled bytes, allowing injection of an arbitrary serialized object stream. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to achieve remote code execution on the server by triggering the `GuzzleHttp\Cookie\FileCookieJar` POP chain, reachable via the `spl_autoload_register` loader in `TUTOR\RestAPI` which loads the plugin's own bundled PayPal Composer autoloader, writing attacker-controlled content to an attacker-specified filename. This has an unauthenticated pathway when user registration is enabled, which is common for students and teachers to register, and it requires the monetization feature to be enabled.

CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Primary and upstream sources