Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2026-1779 affects the WordPress User Registration & Membership plugin through version 5.1.2. A flaw in authentication handling can let an unauthenticated attacker log in as a newly registered user that has a specific plugin-created user meta value. This is high severity, but public sources do not show confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Prioritize inventory and remediation for public WordPress sites using this plugin. The flaw can bypass authentication and has high potential impact, but current public evidence does not confirm active exploitation or provide a specific fixed version in the supplied sources.
Technical view
The issue is an authentication bypass in the plugin’s register_member function, categorized as CWE-288. Wordfence and the CVE record describe network-exploitable, unauthenticated access with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact, CVSS 8.1. The referenced code location is in modules/membership/includes/AJAX.php in tag 5.0.4.
Likely exposure
WordPress sites running User Registration & Membership plugin versions up to and including 5.1.2 are the stated exposure. Risk is most relevant where membership registration is enabled and users may receive the urm_user_just_created meta value.
Exploitation context
The CVSS vector indicates remote, unauthenticated exploitation without user interaction, but with high attack complexity. Sources do not state exploitation in the wild, and CISA KEV status is false in the provided bundle.
Researcher notes
Evidence identifies incorrect authentication in register_member and references AJAX.php in plugin tag 5.0.4. The source bundle does not include exploit details, a patch commit, or a vendor advisory naming a fixed version. Treat fixed-version determination as requiring vendor verification.
Mitigation direction
- Identify all WordPress sites using the User Registration & Membership plugin.
- Check the installed plugin version against the affected range: up to 5.1.2.
- Review vendor and Wordfence guidance for the fixed version or official workaround.
- If no safe version is available, consider disabling the plugin until remediated.
- Restrict membership registration features if business operations allow.
Validation and detection
- Confirm plugin presence and version in WordPress administration or asset inventory.
- Check whether public registration or membership workflows are enabled.
- Review user records for unexpected newly created accounts.
- Look for users with the urm_user_just_created meta value.
- Monitor authentication logs for unusual logins to recently created accounts.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-288: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-1779 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.1 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.25.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.1HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.