Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
An unauthenticated attacker can change this WordPress plugin’s email-server settings. That could redirect password-reset and other outbound messages to the attacker, enabling account takeover, including potentially administrator accounts. The issue affects versions through 1.0.20 according to the title and description.
Executive priority
Treat as an immediate remediation priority on affected public sites. The combination of unauthenticated access, password-reset interception, and possible administrator takeover creates material confidentiality and integrity risk. Prioritize inventory, containment, vendor-guidance review, and investigation of email or account anomalies.
Technical view
Sendmachine for WordPress fails to enforce authorization in manage_admin_requests (CWE-862). Remote, unauthenticated requests can overwrite SMTP configuration. Redirected outbound mail may expose password-reset messages and enable privilege escalation. The supplied CVSS 3.1 score is 9.8, reflecting low-complexity network exploitation without credentials or user interaction.
Likely exposure
Internet-accessible WordPress sites using Sendmachine for WordPress version 1.0.20 or earlier are potentially exposed. Risk is greatest where the plugin processes password-reset emails. The bundle’s structured affected-version value is inconsistent with its title and description, so inventory results require careful verification.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not establish active exploitation, and the CVE is not identified as a CISA KEV entry. Nevertheless, exploitation could have severe consequences because no authentication or user interaction is reportedly required and compromised SMTP settings can expose sensitive account-recovery email.
Researcher notes
The reported authorization bypass is associated with manage_admin_requests, with referenced plugin code and a WordPress changeset. The bundle does not explicitly identify a patched version or explain the changeset’s remediation status. Its affected metadata lists version "0" despite repeatedly stating through 1.0.20; confirm scope against current vendor records.
Mitigation direction
- Identify every WordPress site running Sendmachine for WordPress and record its installed version.
- Check vendor and WordPress plugin guidance for a confirmed fixed release; the supplied sources do not name one.
- If no confirmed fix is available, disable or remove the plugin after assessing email-service dependencies.
- Reset suspicious SMTP credentials and protect affected administrator accounts using an independent recovery channel.
- Review potentially exposed accounts and invalidate untrusted sessions after suspected email interception.
Validation and detection
- Confirm the plugin version from trusted WordPress inventory or filesystem records.
- Compare current SMTP configuration with approved historical values and credential records.
- Review configuration changes, outbound-mail logs, password resets, and administrator account changes for anomalies.
- Verify password-reset mail reaches only the approved provider and intended recipients.
- Confirm remediation persists and unauthorized SMTP changes are no longer possible without appropriate authorization.
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-862: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. 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 lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2026-6235 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
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/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.
SSVC decision data
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:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9WordfenceVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- Source timelineWordfence
Discovered
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- Source timelineWordfence
Disclosed
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7889e071-84a8-46ec-abe5-5c98980ce275?source=cveCVE reference, Wordfence
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sendmachine/tags/1.0.20/sendmachine_wp_admin.php#L183CVE reference, Wordfence
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/sendmachine/tags/1.0.20/includes/sendmachine_email_manager.php#L39CVE reference, Wordfence
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3511578CVE reference, Wordfence
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.
Missing Authorization
Missing Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.