CVE-2025-14427

Shield Security: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches <= 21.0.9 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Email MFA Update

2026-02-18 16:16
shark3y

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 21.0.10
Affected Plugin
Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning
Affected Version
<= 21.0.9
CVSS
4.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2025-14427
View all Shield Security – Smart Bot Blocking, Brute-Force Login Protection & File Scanning vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-14427 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Shield Security WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 21.0.9. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 21.0.10; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2026, reported by shark3y.

Vulnerability Overview

The Shield Security: Blocks Bots, Protects Users, and Prevents Security Breaches plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a missing capability check on the `MfaEmailDisable` action in all versions up to, and including, 21.0.9. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to disable the global Email 2FA setting for the entire site.

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.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Shield Security <= 21.0.9 takes an account at Subscriber level or above. 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 Shield Security the fix is 21.0.10: builds <= 21.0.9 are affected, anything from 21.0.10 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 21.0.10, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Shield Security 21.0.10 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-14427https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/91dbc521-c24b-4b73-9b70-46d363ccb535https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-14427

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C