CVE-2026-1656

Business Directory Plugin <= 6.4.20 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Listing Modification

2026-02-17 20:07
Sein Linn

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 6.4.21
Affected Plugin
Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress
Affected Version
<= 6.4.20
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2026-1656
View all Business Directory Plugin – Easy Listing & Member Directories for WordPress vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-1656 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Business Directory Plugin WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 6.4.20. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 6.4.21; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2026, reported by Sein Linn.

Vulnerability Overview

The Business Directory Plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to a missing authorization check in all versions up to, and including, 6.4.20. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to modify arbitrary listings, including changing titles, content, and email addresses, by directly referencing the listing ID in crafted requests to the wpbdp_ajax AJAX action.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Business Directory Plugin <= 6.4.20 takes no account at all. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Business Directory Plugin the fix is 6.4.21: builds <= 6.4.20 are affected, anything from 6.4.21 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.4.21, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Business Directory Plugin 6.4.21 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-1656https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f894ce75-168c-4baa-8cae-d2e7f1a0a9abhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-1656

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C