Craft CMS versions 5.0.0-RC1 through 5.10.11 are missing an admin-target guard in UsersController::actionActivateUser (the users/activate-user action). While the action requires the administrateUsers permission, it does not call requireAdmin() when the targeted user is an administrator, unlike the mirror action actionDeactivateUser. As a result, an authenticated control panel user who is not an administrator but holds the administrateUsers permission can activate a pending or deliberately deactivated administrator account, which can lead to permission escalation when combined with resetting that account's password. The issue is fixed in Craft CMS 5.10.12.
https://github.com/craftcms/cms/security/advisories/GHSA-jqf5-vfg6-8cx5
Published: 2026-09-08
Updated: 2026-09-19
Base Score: 6.8
Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:C/A:N
Severity: Medium
Base Score: 6.5
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
Severity: Medium
Base Score: 7.1
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Severity: High
EPSS: 0.00181