CVE-2026-16265

Maps <= 4.9.6 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Denial of Service

2026-08-03 00:00
Mohammad Aghdasi

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.9.7
Affected Plugin
WP Maps – Google Maps,OpenStreetMap,Mapbox,Store Locator,Listing,Directory & Filters
Affected Version
<= 4.9.6
CVSS
6.5Medium
Weakness type
CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CVE
CVE-2026-16265
View all WP Maps – Google Maps,OpenStreetMap,Mapbox,Store Locator,Listing,Directory & Filters vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2026-16265 is a medium-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in the WP Maps WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.9.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.9.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Mohammad Aghdasi.

Vulnerability Overview

The Maps plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Denial of Service in versions up to, and including, 4.9.6. This is due to missing capability check and lack of an allowlist on the user-controlled `operation` parameter passed to a dynamic method call in the `wpgmp_ajax_call` function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to call arbitrary methods on the plugin object via the AJAX endpoint, causing resource exhaustion or unexpected server-side behavior.

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 interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on availability.

CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Reaching this weakness in WP Maps <= 4.9.6 takes an account at Subscriber level or above. Uncontrolled resource consumption means a request can make the server do an amount of work it never bounds, because the size or repetition of the job is taken from the request rather than capped by the code.

A single caller can hold PHP workers, database connections or disk open long enough to slow the site for everyone, without needing any account or any other flaw. For WP Maps the fix is 4.9.7: builds <= 4.9.6 are affected, anything from 4.9.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.9.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Subscriber access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WP Maps 4.9.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-16265https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/9e13703d-f9cd-47d8-84e1-248bade4f717https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16265

Related records

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