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Vulnerability report

Active exploitation observed Confirmed confidence Not in CISA KEV

CVE-2026-19598

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Privilege Escalation

sc0ttkclark / Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields · 2.8 to <= 2.8.23.3

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Severity
CVSS 9.8 · Critical
Confidence
Confirmed
Exploit status
Observed in sensors
EPSS
0.5%
First observed
16 Aug 2026
Last observed
18 Aug 2026

Decision summary

What security teams need to know first

Direct answers before the deeper technical record.

What it is

CVE-2026-19598 is an unauthenticated vulnerability affecting sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields. The Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation...

Is it exploited?

Yes. KEV Intelligence sensors observed exploitation attempts with confirmed confidence.

Who is affected?

sc0ttkclark / Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields 2.8 to <= 2.8.23.3.

What should we do?

Patch immediately, validate internet-facing exposure, and monitor for matching requests.

Overview

Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Privilege Escalation

The Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Authorization Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 3.3.9. The vulnerability exists because the pods_admin AJAX router funnels every access check — including the method allowlist, nonce verification, login enforcement, and capability gate — through pods_error(), which under the JSON meta-box-loader compatibility path only writes failures to the PHP error log and returns false instead of terminating the request, rendering all guards ineffective.

This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to escalate their privileges to Administrator or overwrite the password of any user account, including the site owner's, enabling complete site takeover, or perform another administrator action.

Vendor Product Affected Status
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 2.8.23.3 Affected
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 2.9.19.3 Affected
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 3.0.10.3 Affected
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 3.1.4.1 Affected
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 3.2.8.2 Affected
sc0ttkclark Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields Through 3.3.9 Affected
Published
15 Aug 2026
Exploited Since
16 Aug 2026
Attack vector
Remote
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None

Tags

wordpress php edge

CVE References

Exploitation evidence

Why KEV Intelligence marks this CVE as exploited

Third-party attestation and first-party sensor observation are shown separately so teams can judge the evidence chain.

Exploited in the wild

Wordfence

Recorded 17 Aug 2026

Independent exploitation attestation added to the KEV Intelligence record.

Active exploitation observed

KEV Intelligence sensor

First observed 16 Aug 2026

First-party sensor telemetry confirms matching exploitation attempts.

Proof of concept available

GitHub

Recorded 18 Aug 2026

Public scanner or PoC coverage increases practical exploitability.

Known exploited vulnerability sources

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEV Intelligence Pro API.

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Source Added
Wordfence First 2026-08-17 08:14 UTC
KEV Intelligence 2026-08-22 08:27 UTC

Operational indicators for this CVE are listed under Detection.

Sensor telemetry

First-party evidence of exploitation activity

Aggregate observations show the scale, recency, and distribution of activity without overstating sparse data.

2

Attempts observed

2

Unique attacker IPs

2

Attacker countries

IR · VN

2

Sensors observed

Exploitation attempts over the last 8 days

Daily events observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

Updated 22 Aug 2026

0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
15 Aug 16 Aug 17 Aug 18 Aug 19 Aug 20 Aug 21 Aug 22 Aug

First observed 16 Aug 2026 · Last observed 18 Aug 2026

Pro adds sensor region and window summaries. Enterprise adds raw IPs, paths, User-Agents, and payloads.

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Detection

Operational artifacts and observed signals

Make the evidence actionable in scanner, SOC, and edge-control workflows.

Observed signals

Request targets
1
User-Agents
2

Raw values available in Pro and Enterprise.

Scanner coverage

No scanner integrations recorded yet.

Virtual patch status

No KEV Intelligence virtual patch is currently available. Future rules ship for ModSecurity, Cloudflare, and AWS WAF.

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Attacker IP Indicators

Attacker IP indicators observed · available in Pro and Enterprise.

Sensor-derived attacker IP indicators are available to Pro and Enterprise accounts under Detection and through the Pro API.

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Risk and context

Severity, weaknesses, and research context

CVSS v3.1

9.8 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS

0.5%

Weaknesses

Incorrect Authorization CWE-863

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

DeadExpl0it/CVE-2026-19598-PoC

github · Created 2026-08-19 02:10:44 UTC · 0 stars · AI assessment 90%

Proof of Concept for CVE-2026-19598 affecting Pods <= 3.3.9.

ksotaria1337/CVE-2026-19598

github · Created 2026-08-18 15:16:05 UTC · 0 stars · AI assessment 90%

Timeline

From disclosure to observed exploitation

  1. Public PoC available

    Public proof-of-concept code published

  2. Added to KEV Intelligence KEV Feed

    High-confidence, third-party attested exploitation

  3. Observed by KEV Intelligence sensors

    Evidence-backed exploitation signal

  4. Indicators of compromise added (2)

    Indicators of compromise recorded

  5. Added to the KEV Intelligence watchlist

    Added to the KEV Intelligence curated list for closer monitoring

  6. CVE published

    Vulnerability disclosed publicly

  7. CVE ID reserved

    Identifier reserved by the CNA

Pro API

Automate this intelligence

Confidence, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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  • Evidence confidence and provenance
  • First-party sensor telemetry
  • PoC and scanner references
  • Affected versions and enrichment
  • Automation-ready JSON delivery

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2026-19598

Free JSON includes basic KEV fields 
{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2026-19598",
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "cvss_estimated": false,
  "epss_score": 0.00498,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": true
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "attempts": 2, "sensors": 2 }
}

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