CVE-2026-97337

Simple Membership <= 4.8.3 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Account Takeover and Sensitive Information Disclosure via 'email' Parameter on Activation Endpoints

2026-10-02 16:42
Kuba

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.8.4
Affected Plugin
Simple Membership
Affected Version
<= 4.8.3
CVSS
7.5High
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2026-97337
View all Simple Membership vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-97337 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Simple Membership WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.8.3. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.8.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2026, reported by Kuba.

Vulnerability Overview

The Simple Membership plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data and sensitive information disclosure in versions up to, and including, 4.8.3 via the resend-activation and email-activation endpoints. The endpoints are dispatched from SwpmInitTimeTasks::check_and_do_email_activation() on frontend init with no authentication, nonce, capability, or ownership check, and the recipient address used by SwpmRegistration::send_reg_email() is taken from an attacker-controlled $_POST['email'] parameter (overriding the member's registered address). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to redirect an arbitrary pending member's activation email — and the follow-up 'registration complete' email containing the member's username and plaintext password — to an attacker-chosen address, and to then activate that member's account without their consent.

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.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Simple Membership <= 4.8.3 carries this weakness at email, and reaching it 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 Simple Membership the fix is 4.8.4: builds <= 4.8.3 are affected, anything from 4.8.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.8.4, 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: Simple Membership 4.8.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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