Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-493R-G3QV-5457

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-08-23 00:30 – Updated: 2026-08-23 00:30

Details

The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin's user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler's permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P[\d]+) routes — including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers — with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core's original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator's password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required — the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed.

Severity

8.8 (High)


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

Show details on source website

JSON

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-16149"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-269"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2026-08-23T00:16:50Z",
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin\u0027s user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler\u0027s permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P\u003cid\u003e[\\d]+) routes \u2014 including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers \u2014 with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core\u0027s original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator\u0027s password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/\u003cid\u003e. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required \u2014 the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed.",
  "id": "GHSA-493r-g3qv-5457",
  "modified": "2026-08-23T00:30:22Z",
  "published": "2026-08-23T00:30:22Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16149"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L107"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L180"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L204"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L428"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L433"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L439"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630896/security-hardener"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64f1a71f-e210-4191-bfb4-56f8568180ed?source=cve"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2026-16149 (GCVE-0-2026-16149)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-08-22 23:27 – Updated: 2026-08-22 23:27

Title

Security Hardener <= 2.4.4 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via REST API '/wp/v2/users' permission_callback Overwrite

Summary

The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin's user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler's permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P<id>[\d]+) routes — including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers — with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core's original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator's password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/<id>. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required — the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed.

Severity

8.8 (High)


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

CWE

CWE-269 - Improper Privilege Management

Assigner

Wordfence mitre root

References

8 references

URL	Tags
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabil…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/securi…
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630…

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
marc4	Security Hardener	Affected: 0 , ≤ 2.4.4 (semver)

Credits

zickzick2

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Security Hardener",
          "vendor": "marc4",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "2.4.4",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "zickzick2"
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin\u0027s user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler\u0027s permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P\u003cid\u003e[\\d]+) routes \u2014 including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers \u2014 with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core\u0027s original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator\u0027s password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/\u003cid\u003e. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required \u2014 the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 8.8,
            "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-269",
              "description": "CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-22T23:27:18.750Z",
        "orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
        "shortName": "Wordfence"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64f1a71f-e210-4191-bfb4-56f8568180ed?source=cve"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L107"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L180"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L204"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L428"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L433"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L439"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630896/security-hardener"
        }
      ],
      "timeline": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-08-22T11:09:38.000Z",
          "value": "Disclosed"
        }
      ],
      "title": "Security Hardener \u003c= 2.4.4 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via REST API \u0027/wp/v2/users\u0027 permission_callback Overwrite"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
    "assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-16149",
    "datePublished": "2026-08-22T23:27:18.750Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-07-17T18:41:15.726Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-08-22T23:27:18.750Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.

Action not permitted

GHSA-493R-G3QV-5457

CVE-2026-16149 (GCVE-0-2026-16149)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature