CVE-2026-109930 in MAIO Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/16/2026
The MAIO WordPress plugin before 7.3.22 does not properly restrict access to its analytics data, treating a credential value shipped verbatim in its own public source as a valid API key, which allows unauthenticated attackers to retrieve the stored crawl-analytics log, including each recorded visitor's IP address, user agent and referer.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/16/2026
The vulnerability identified in MAIO WordPress plugin versions prior to 7.3.22 represents a critical failure in access control mechanisms, specifically categorized under CWE-284 Improper Access Control. The core technical flaw stems from the developer's handling of authentication credentials within the plugin's source code. Instead of generating unique or dynamically secured API keys for internal operations, the plugin ships with a hardcoded credential value that is exposed verbatim in its public repository and distributed files. This architectural oversight effectively neutralizes any intended security boundary, as the secret required to access sensitive analytics endpoints becomes publicly discoverable by anyone who can view the source code of the plugin or intercept network traffic during normal updates.
From an operational perspective, this misconfiguration allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication checks entirely and interact directly with the plugin's internal API endpoints designed for retrieving crawl-analytics logs. The attacker does not need valid user credentials on the WordPress site itself; they only require knowledge of the hardcoded key embedded in the software distribution. This creates a severe information disclosure risk, as the targeted endpoint returns comprehensive data regarding website visitors. The retrieved log files contain personally identifiable information and behavioral metrics, including specific IP addresses, browser user agent strings, and HTTP referer headers for every recorded visit.
The impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data leakage to potential privacy violations and compliance failures. For site owners operating under regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the unauthorized exposure of visitor IP addresses constitutes a significant breach of personal data protection standards. Furthermore, the availability of user agent strings and referer headers enables attackers to perform detailed reconnaissance on individual visitors. This information can be leveraged for targeted phishing campaigns, where knowledge of specific software versions or originating websites increases the likelihood of successful social engineering attacks against site administrators or their audience members.
In terms of threat modeling, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts if an attacker were to misuse legitimate credentials, but more accurately reflects T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie in context of session hijacking potential, although here it is primarily a data exfiltration vector via improper access control. The attack path involves simple HTTP requests to the plugin's API endpoint with the hardcoded key included as an authentication parameter. This simplicity makes automated exploitation trivial and widespread across any installations that have not yet applied the patch.
Mitigation strategies must focus on immediate remediation through software updates. Site administrators running MAIO WordPress plugin versions earlier than 7.3.22 should upgrade to version 7.3.22 or later immediately, as this release addresses the improper access control flaw by correcting how API keys are generated and validated. Until the update is applied, temporary mitigations include restricting web server access to the specific endpoint associated with the analytics data using firewall rules or .htaccess configurations if possible, although these measures may be complex due to WordPress routing structures. Additionally, reviewing plugin source code for other hardcoded secrets is recommended to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in adjacent functionalities. Regular security audits and adherence to secure coding practices that avoid hardcoding sensitive credentials are essential long-term defenses against this class of vulnerability.