6.5
MEDIUM CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-16759
Tutor LMS <= 4.0.5 - Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution via 'template' and 'data' POST Parameters
Description

The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution limited to zero-argument function invocation in all versions up to, and including, 4.0.5 via the tutor_course_filter_ajax AJAX action. This is due to missing authorization on the handler combined with unsanitized array keys being passed to extract() inside tutor_load_template(), allowing attacker-controlled POST data to overwrite the local $template variable and, in the resulting templates/single-content-loader.php template, the $method_map and $context variables invoked at $method_map[$context](). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to call an arbitrary zero-argument PHP function server-side and, via WordPress core edit_user(), to create a persistent subscriber-level account from request parameters.

INFO

Published Date :

Aug. 28, 2026, 5:16 a.m.

Last Modified :

Aug. 28, 2026, 5:16 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-16759 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

No affected product recoded yet

CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 MEDIUM [email protected]
Solution
Update Tutor LMS plugin to patch the remote code execution vulnerability.
  • Update the Tutor LMS plugin to the latest version.
  • Verify plugin authorization checks.
  • Sanitize all user inputs.
  • Apply security patches promptly.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-16759 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-16759 weaknesses.

CAPEC-3: Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters Using Leading 'Ghost' Character Sequences to Bypass Input Filters CAPEC-6: Argument Injection Argument Injection CAPEC-7: Blind SQL Injection Blind SQL Injection CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-13: Subverting Environment Variable Values Subverting Environment Variable Values CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-28: Fuzzing Fuzzing CAPEC-34: HTTP Response Splitting HTTP Response Splitting CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-43: Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers Exploiting Multiple Input Interpretation Layers CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-51: Poison Web Service Registry Poison Web Service Registry CAPEC-52: Embedding NULL Bytes Embedding NULL Bytes CAPEC-53: Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash Postfix, Null Terminate, and Backslash CAPEC-64: Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic Using Slashes and URL Encoding Combined to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-67: String Format Overflow in syslog() String Format Overflow in syslog() CAPEC-71: Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using Unicode Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-72: URL Encoding URL Encoding CAPEC-76: Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls Manipulating Web Input to File System Calls CAPEC-78: Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Escaped Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-79: Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding Using Slashes in Alternate Encoding CAPEC-80: Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic Using UTF-8 Encoding to Bypass Validation Logic CAPEC-83: XPath Injection XPath Injection CAPEC-84: XQuery Injection XQuery Injection CAPEC-101: Server Side Include (SSI) Injection Server Side Include (SSI) Injection CAPEC-105: HTTP Request Splitting HTTP Request Splitting CAPEC-108: Command Line Execution through SQL Injection Command Line Execution through SQL Injection CAPEC-120: Double Encoding Double Encoding CAPEC-135: Format String Injection Format String Injection CAPEC-250: XML Injection XML Injection CAPEC-267: Leverage Alternate Encoding Leverage Alternate Encoding CAPEC-273: HTTP Response Smuggling HTTP Response Smuggling

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-16759 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-16759 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Aug. 28, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description The Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution limited to zero-argument function invocation in all versions up to, and including, 4.0.5 via the tutor_course_filter_ajax AJAX action. This is due to missing authorization on the handler combined with unsanitized array keys being passed to extract() inside tutor_load_template(), allowing attacker-controlled POST data to overwrite the local $template variable and, in the resulting templates/single-content-loader.php template, the $method_map and $context variables invoked at $method_map[$context](). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to call an arbitrary zero-argument PHP function server-side and, via WordPress core edit_user(), to create a persistent subscriber-level account from request parameters.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
    Added CWE CWE-74
    Added Affected New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/16xxx/CVE-2026-16759.json">CVE-2026-16759</a>
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/classes/Course_Filter.php#L224
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/classes/Course_Filter.php#L58
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/includes/tutor-template-functions.php#L118
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/includes/tutor-template-functions.php#L128
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/templates/single-content-loader.php#L30
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tutor/tags/4.0.1/templates/single-content-loader.php#L71
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3653079/tutor/trunk/templates/single-content-loader.php
    Added Reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Ftutor/tags/4.0.5&new_path=%2Ftutor/tags/4.0.6
    Added Reference https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/65f68a49-8ded-479f-a9c3-187703bfae65?source=cve
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.