SiteGround Security <= 1.2.5 - Authentication Bypass via 2FA Setup
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.2.6
- Affected Plugin
- Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin
- Affected Version
<= 1.2.5- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-288 · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
- CVE
CVE-2022-0992
At a glance
CVE-2022-0992 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability in the Security Optimizer WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.2.5. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.2.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2022, reported by Chloe Chamberland.
Vulnerability Overview
The SiteGround Security plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass that allows unauthenticated users to log in as administrative users due to missing identity verification on initial 2FA set-up that allows unauthenticated and unauthorized users to configure 2FA for pending accounts. Upon successful configuration, the attacker is logged in as that user without access to a username/password pair which is the expected first form of authentication. This affects versions up to, and including, 1.2.5.
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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
Reaching this weakness in Security Optimizer <= 1.2.5 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authentication bypass through an alternate path means the application has a second route to a protected action that skips the checks the primary route performs.
The protection on the main path becomes irrelevant, because the attacker simply uses the route that never asks. For Security Optimizer the fix is 1.2.6: builds <= 1.2.5 are affected, anything from 1.2.6 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.2.6, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Security Optimizer 1.2.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Security Optimizer – The All-In-One Protection Plugin
- 8.1CVE-2022-0993: SiteGround Security Authorization Weakness
CVE-2022-0993 - 7.2CVE-2023-0234: SiteGround Security <= 1.3.0 SQL Injection
CVE-2023-0234 - 5.3CVE-2026-82228: Security Optimizer 2-Factor Authentication Bypass
CVE-2026-82228 - 5.3CVE-2026-13342: Security Optimizer IP Allowlist Bypass
CVE-2026-13342 - 5.3CVE-2025-66121: SiteGround Security <= 1.5.8 Missing Authorization
CVE-2025-66121 - 4.3CVE-2024-38774: Security Optimizer Missing Authorization
CVE-2024-38774
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C