Various Newfold Plugins Various Versions - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via Bearer Token Validation with Empty Secret
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.2.1
- Affected Plugin
- WP Plugin Hostgator
- Affected Version
<= 3.2.0- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
- CVE
CVE-2026-80099
At a glance
CVE-2026-80099 is a high-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the WP Plugin Hostgator WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.2.0. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.2.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2026, reported by sorin vasile.
Vulnerability Overview
Several Newfold plugins are vulnerable to Authentication Bypass. The vulnerability exists because the plugins bundle the wp-module-data module. In the module, the `authenticate()` method — registered on the `rest_authentication_errors` filter and therefore evaluated for every unauthenticated REST API request — performs an HMAC-style Bearer token comparison that degenerates when `HiiveConnection::get_auth_token()` returns `false`: PHP coerces `strrev(false)` to `strrev('')`, collapsing the secret salt to the publicly known constant `hash('sha256', '') = e3b0c44...`, while all remaining hash inputs (HTTP method, request URL, raw request body, and the `X-Timestamp` header) remain fully attacker-controlled. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to compute a valid Bearer token entirely offline, pass the token equality check, and have `wp_set_current_user()` invoked against the first administrator returned by `get_users(['role' => 'administrator'])`, granting full administrator-level access and enabling arbitrary REST API operations such as creating new administrator accounts and achieving complete site takeover. Vulnerable versions are WP Plugin Crazy Domains (<= 2.5.2), WP Plugin Web (<= 2.3.4), WP Plugin Hostgator (<= 3.1.0), WP Plugin Bluehost (<= 4.17.1). The affected module is vulnerable in versions up to, and including, 2.9.4.
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 confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-287: Improper Authentication
WP Plugin Hostgator <= 3.2.0 carries this weakness at sha256, and reaching it takes no account at all. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.
An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For WP Plugin Hostgator the fix is 3.2.1: builds <= 3.2.0 are affected, anything from 3.2.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.2.1, 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: WP Plugin Hostgator 3.2.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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