SMS Alert <= 3.9.5 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Arbitrary Password Reset

The SMS Alert – SMS & OTP for WooCommerce, Order Notifications & Abandoned Cart Recovery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.9.5. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their details like reset the password of any user account, including administrators, and gain full access to those accounts. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change arbitrary user's email addresses, including administrators, and leverage that to reset the user's password and gain access to their account. This is only vulnerable on sites with OTP verification for password resets enabled, and where the administrator (or other user) has set a phone number for OTP verification.

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: SMS Alert 3.9.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

• Login Security
• Alerts