CVE-2026-105190 in Easy Digital Downloads Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/08/2026
The Easy Digital Downloads WordPress plugin before 3.7.1 does not consult the site's user registration setting before creating a WordPress account, allowing unauthenticated users to create an account and receive a logged-in session even when registration is disabled. The created account receives the site's default role.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/08/2026
The vulnerability identified in Easy Digital Downloads versions prior to 3.7.1 represents a critical authentication bypass flaw rooted in improper access control logic within the plugin’s user creation workflow. Specifically, the software fails to validate the WordPress site-level configuration regarding user registration before initiating the account provisioning process. In standard WordPress environments, administrators can disable public user registration through the general settings interface, intending to restrict account creation exclusively to administrative actions or specific authenticated workflows. However, this vulnerability allows unauthenticated external actors to bypass that restriction entirely by interacting with the plugin’s endpoints designed for customer onboarding during purchase flows.
From a technical perspective, the flaw lies in the sequence of operations performed when a new user is added via the Easy Digital Downloads interface. The code executes the account creation routine without first querying the wp_options table or utilizing WordPress core functions to verify if public registration is enabled. Consequently, any individual with network access can trigger this mechanism, resulting in the automatic generation of a new WordPress user profile and an active session token. This behavior effectively neutralizes one of the primary defense-in-depth mechanisms provided by the CMS itself, which relies on configuration settings to limit attack surfaces related to account enumeration and unauthorized entry points.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for any site utilizing Easy Digital Downloads with public registration disabled. Attackers can create unlimited accounts assigned to the default role configured for new users on that WordPress installation. Depending on the specific theme or additional plugins active on the target system, this default role may possess minimal privileges such as viewing restricted content, leaving reviews, or accessing customer dashboards. Even if these permissions appear benign, they facilitate user enumeration attacks by confirming valid email addresses and usernames through error messages or session behaviors. Furthermore, in scenarios where the default role has been inadvertently granted higher capabilities due to misconfiguration, attackers could escalate their privileges further, potentially leading to full site compromise.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which describes Improper Authorization, as the system fails to enforce appropriate access controls for a user attempting to perform an action that requires specific permissions or conditions not met by unauthenticated users. Additionally, it relates to CWE-798, involving the use of hardcoded credentials or default configurations that are exploitable when security settings are disabled but not technically enforced at the code level. In terms of offensive tactics, this behavior supports ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, where adversaries establish persistent access by creating legitimate-looking accounts to blend in with normal traffic and evade detection mechanisms focused on known malicious IP addresses or suspicious file modifications rather than new user creation events.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate software updates as the primary defense vector. Administrators running Easy Digital Downloads should upgrade to version 3.7.1 or later, where this logic has been corrected to respect the site’s registration settings. Until an update is applied, administrators can implement temporary compensating controls such as restricting access to specific plugin endpoints via web application firewall rules if those endpoints are identifiable through network traffic analysis. Additionally, reviewing and hardening the capabilities assigned to the default user role on WordPress installations can reduce the potential impact of unauthorized account creation by limiting what these newly created profiles can achieve within the environment. Regular auditing of new user accounts against expected business logic patterns can also aid in early detection of exploitation attempts for this specific flaw.