CVE-2026-16149
Vulnérabilité élevée dans Security Hardener (marc4)
Description
The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin's user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler's permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P<id>[\d]+) routes — including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers — with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core's original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator's password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/<id>. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required — the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed.
Gravité et risque d'exploitation
CVE-2026-16149 obtient un score CVSS de 8.8/10, soit une gravité élevée. Selon le modèle EPSS, la probabilité qu'elle soit exploitée dans les 30 prochains jours est de 0.59 %, ce qui la place devant 47.2 % des CVE référencées.
Que faire ?
- Vérifiez si Security Hardener (versions <=2.4.4, 0) est présent sur votre parc.
- Appliquez le correctif ou la version corrigée indiqués dans les références de l'éditeur.
- À défaut de correctif, limitez l'exposition (filtrage réseau, désactivation du composant).
- Automatisez la détection : les agents CVE Heimdall (gratuits, open source) corrèlent l'inventaire de vos serveurs avec la base CVE.
Références
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64f1a71f-e210-4191-bfb4-56f8568180ed?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L107
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L180
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L204
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L428
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L433
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L439
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630896/security-hardener
