VulnerabilityDeferred

CVE-2026-4021

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5.

HIGH 8.1EPSS 0.44%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.44%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

The Contest Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to an authentication bypass leading to admin account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 28.1.5. This is due to the email confirmation handler in `users-registry-check-after-email-or-pin-confirmation.php` using the user's email string in a `WHERE ID = %s` clause instead of the numeric user ID, combined with an unauthenticated key-based login endpoint in `ajax-functions-frontend.php`. When the non-default `RegMailOptional=1` setting is enabled, an attacker can register with a crafted email starting with the target user ID (e.g., `1poc@example.test`), trigger the confirmation flow to overwrite the admin's `user_activation_key` via MySQL integer coercion, and then use the `post_cg1l_login_user_by_key` AJAX action to authenticate as the admin without any credentials. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to take over any WordPress administrator account and gain full site control.

CVSS 3.1: 8.1 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.44% probability · 37th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-287
Source: security@wordfence.com

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.