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.
Published: 2026-08-22
Score: 8.8 High
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

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History

Sat, 22 Aug 2026 23:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Security Hardener <= 2.4.4 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation via REST API '/wp/v2/users' permission_callback Overwrite
Weaknesses CWE-269
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Subscriptions

No data.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Wordfence

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-22T23:27:18.750Z

Reserved: 2026-07-17T18:41:15.726Z

Link: CVE-2026-16149

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-23T00:16:50.233

Modified: 2026-08-23T00:16:50.233

Link: CVE-2026-16149

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-23T00:30:17Z

Weaknesses