Payment Button for PayPal < 1.2.3.45 - Unauthenticated Payment Bypass
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.2.3.45
- Affected Plugin
- Payment Button for PayPal
- Affected Version
< 1.2.3.45- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2026-16990
At a glance
CVE-2026-16990 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Payment Button for PayPal WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.2.3.45. 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 1.2.3.45; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2026, reported by Muni Nitish Kumar Yaddala.
Vulnerability Overview
The Payment Button for PayPal plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Payment Bypass in all versions up to, and excluding, 1.2.3.45. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to bypass payments.
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-862: Missing Authorization
Reaching this weakness in Payment Button for PayPal < 1.2.3.45 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 Payment Button for PayPal the fix is 1.2.3.45: builds < 1.2.3.45 are affected, anything from 1.2.3.45 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.2.3.45, 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: Payment Button for PayPal 1.2.3.45 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Payment Button for PayPal
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