CVE-2026-120574: SureCart authentication bypass vulnerability
high 8.1 published 2026-11-03
- Affected versions
- 4.9.5 and older
- Fixed in
- 4.9.6 *
- Latest version
- 4.12.0
- Severity
- High · CVSS 8.1
- Active installs
- 80,000+
- Type
- Authentication bypass
* The source does not name a fixed version; this is the first wordpress.org release after the last affected version.
What an attacker needs
- Access: None. No account or login is needed.
CVSS vector (score by Wordfence): CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
What to do now
- Update SureCart to 4.9.6 or newer (the latest is 4.12.0): Dashboard → Updates, or Plugins → “update now”.
- If you cannot update right away, deactivate it until you can.
- Turn on auto-updates for it: Plugins → “Enable auto-updates” on its row.
- Not sure which version you run? Check your version against every known SureCart issue.
With WP-CLI:
wp plugin get surecart --field=version. - If you ran an affected version and something looks off (new admin users, spam pages, redirects), run the free scan below.
The advisory
The SureCart plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthenticated account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 4.9.5. The passwordless one-time-code login REST route (VerificationCodeController::verify(), whose permission callback returns true) resolves an attacker-supplied login to any WordPress user, verifies a 6-digit code, and on success calls $user->login() → wp_set_auth_cookie() for a user of any role. In the affected versions this path has no per-account attempt counter, no persistent email/IP lockout or rate limit (the upstream CDN throttle is bypassable via IP rotation), and no restriction preventing high-privilege accounts from being logged in through it. An unauthenticated attacker can trigger a code for any user (including an administrator) via the companion unauthenticated endpoint and brute-force the 6-digit code to obtain an authenticated session as that user, resulting in a full administrator account takeover.
References
- NVD CVE-2026-120574 nvd.nist.gov
- Wordfence advisory www.wordfence.com
- wordpress.org wordpress.org
- plugins.svn.wordpress.org plugins.svn.wordpress.org
- plugins.svn.wordpress.org plugins.svn.wordpress.org
- plugins.svn.wordpress.org plugins.svn.wordpress.org
Related
Ran an affected version? Check your site for signs of a hack
The free scan reads the public side of your site and looks for spam pages, hidden redirects, injected scripts and blacklist entries. No login, no install, about a minute.
Where this data comes from
- CVE record, score and references: NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD), checked 2026-11-04. This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- Versions and install counts: wordpress.org/plugins/surecart (Plugins API), fetched 2026-11-04.
- The summary, “what an attacker needs” and “what to do” sections are our plain-English reading of the record and the plugin's release history; the quoted description is the record's own text. Spot an error? Email Daniel.