--- id: CVE-2026-16149 title: >- The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4 summary: >- 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 … severity: high cvss: 8.8 cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H' cwe: - CWE-269 published: '2026-08-23' updated: '2026-10-12' sourceUpdated: '2026-10-12T16:10:00.220' source: NVD sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-16149' references: - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L107 label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L180 label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L204 label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L428 label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L433 label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/security-hardener/tags/2.4.4/security-hardener.php#L439 label: security@wordfence.com - url: 'https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3630896/security-hardener' label: security@wordfence.com - url: >- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64f1a71f-e210-4191-bfb4-56f8568180ed?source=cve label: security@wordfence.com tags: - nvd epss: 0.00591 epssPercentile: 0.46738 ingestedAt: '2026-10-12T16:57:59.886Z' --- ## Overview 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[\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/. 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. ## Remediation Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.