CVE-2026-102002 in Otter Blocks Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/02/2026
The Otter Blocks – Gutenberg Blocks, Page Builder for Gutenberg Editor & FSE plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.6 via the 'otter_form_widget_filter' parameter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to extract the email addresses of the five most recent form submitters, their submission dates, and the site's total form submission count. The widget is registered whenever the themeisle_blocks_form_emails option is non-empty — the normal state after any Form block has been saved — meaning the exposure is active on any standard site using the plugin's form feature.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/02/2026
The vulnerability identified in Otter Blocks, a popular Gutenberg blocks and page builder plugin for WordPress, represents a significant flaw in data handling within its form widget functionality. Specifically, this issue affects all versions up to and including 3.2.6 through the 'otter_form_widget_filter' parameter. The core of the problem lies in how the plugin exposes internal state information via public-facing widgets without adequate access control or data sanitization mechanisms appropriate for the sensitivity of the data involved. This flaw allows authenticated attackers, even those with minimal privileges such as subscriber-level access and above, to extract sensitive personal information from form submissions stored by the site.
From a technical perspective, the vulnerability is triggered when the widget associated with this filter is registered. The registration logic checks if the 'themeisle_blocks_form_emails' option exists in the WordPress database and contains data. Since saving any Form block within the Gutenberg editor typically results in non-empty email data being stored for administrative purposes or spam protection, this condition is met on virtually all standard sites utilizing the plugin's form features. Consequently, the vulnerability is not an edge case but a persistent state present whenever forms are actively used. The attacker interacts with the exposed widget endpoint to retrieve structured data that includes the email addresses of the five most recent individuals who submitted forms, along with their submission timestamps and aggregate statistics regarding total submissions on the site.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial from both privacy compliance and security standpoints. The exposure of personally identifiable information (PII), specifically email addresses coupled with temporal data, violates principles of data minimization and confidentiality. For organizations subject to regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), this constitutes a reportable data breach due to the unauthorized disclosure of user contact details. Beyond regulatory fines, the leaked information facilitates targeted phishing campaigns, credential stuffing attacks, and social engineering efforts against site visitors who have interacted with forms. The inclusion of submission dates allows attackers to correlate these emails with other known breaches or events, increasing the efficacy of subsequent attack vectors.
In terms of industry standard classifications, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-200: Information Exposure, where security-relevant information is disclosed without proper access controls. It also reflects aspects of CWE-359: Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor. From a tactical perspective within the MITRE ATT&CK framework for enterprise environments, this behavior maps to T1005: Data from Local System and potentially T1213: Data from Information Repositories, as it involves extracting data stored in the application's database through a web interface. The fact that low-privileged users can exploit this highlights weaknesses in role-based access control (RBAC) implementation within the plugin’s widget rendering logic.
Mitigation strategies must address both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. For site administrators, the most effective immediate action is to update the Otter Blocks plugin to a version released after 3.2.6 where this vulnerability has been patched by restricting access to sensitive form data or removing the public exposure of submission details via widgets. If updating is not immediately feasible, disabling the specific widget that exposes these emails in the WordPress sidebar or footer areas can mitigate risk until an update is applied. Developers should implement strict capability checks before rendering any widget content that involves user-submitted data, ensuring that only administrators with explicit permissions to view such sensitive information are granted access. Furthermore, future development should adhere to privacy-by-design principles by avoiding the storage of unnecessary PII in publicly accessible widgets and implementing proper sanitization and escaping functions for all outputted data to prevent not just this exposure but also potential cross-site scripting vectors associated with user-generated content.