CVE-2026-16988

GeoDirectory <= 2.8.168 - Unauthenticated Pending/Draft Listing Disclosure

2026-08-03 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.8.169
Affected Plugin: GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory
Affected Version: <= 2.8.168
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CVE: CVE-2026-16988

View all GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-16988 is a medium-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in the GeoDirectory WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.8.168. 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 2.8.169; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Usama Arshad.

Vulnerability Overview

The GeoDirectory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in versions up to, and including, 2.8.168. This is due to missing ownership verification before including non-public post statuses (pending, draft) in the markers REST endpoint query, allowing unauthenticated requests to retrieve marker data for unpublished listings. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to view location marker data for pending and draft listings without authentication.

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-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

Reaching this weakness in GeoDirectory <= 2.8.168 takes no account at all. Sensitive information exposure means data the application intended to keep internal is returned to a caller who should not be able to see it.

The disclosed data — credentials, tokens, customer records or internal paths — is usually worth more as material for a follow-up attack than as an end in itself. For GeoDirectory the fix is 2.8.169: builds <= 2.8.168 are affected, anything from 2.8.169 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.8.169, 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: GeoDirectory 2.8.169 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-16988 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/2e25557d-577b-4ac6-a006-43079ab4b77d https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16988

Related records

Same weakness class

4.3CVE-2026-16968: GeoDirectory Information ExposureCVE-2026-16968

Other vulnerabilities in GeoDirectory – WP Business Directory Plugin and Classified Listings Directory

CVSS Vector

5.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

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