CVE-2026-14550 in WPCafe Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/26/2026
The WPCafe WordPress plugin before 3.0.18 does not perform an authorization check when creating a reservation through its REST API, verifying only a publicly available nonce, allowing unauthenticated users to submit reservations with an arbitrary approval status and bypass the administrator moderation workflow.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2026
The vulnerability identified in WPCafe versions prior to 3.0.18 represents a critical failure in access control mechanisms within the plugin's REST API implementation. Specifically, the endpoint responsible for creating new restaurant reservations lacks proper authorization checks that verify whether the requesting user possesses administrative privileges or specific permissions required to set reservation attributes such as approval status. Instead of validating the user's role and capabilities through standard WordPress authentication hooks like current_user_can, the system relies exclusively on a nonce verification process. While nonces are designed to prevent Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks by ensuring that requests originate from legitimate forms within the application session, they do not inherently verify identity or permission levels for privileged actions when used in isolation without additional role-based checks.
This architectural flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to interact with the reservation creation endpoint directly via HTTP POST requests. By crafting a malicious request containing a valid nonce obtained through public enumeration of page sources and supplying arbitrary data for fields such as approval_status, an attacker can bypass the intended administrative moderation workflow entirely. The system accepts these submissions without verifying if the actor is authorized to make decisions regarding resource allocation or customer management, effectively treating unauthenticated input with the same trust level as authenticated administrator actions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data integrity issues. Attackers can flood the reservation system with fake bookings, potentially causing service denial for legitimate customers by occupying available time slots and resources. Furthermore, because the approval status can be manipulated arbitrarily, attackers may mark fraudulent reservations as approved or pending in ways that disrupt business operations, confuse staff, or create confusion regarding actual booking availability. This lack of authorization enforcement undermines the core security principle of least privilege, allowing any internet user to perform actions reserved exclusively for site administrators and potentially leading to significant reputational damage and financial loss for businesses relying on the plugin for order management.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Improper Access Control, as it involves insufficient verification of authorization before granting access to sensitive functionality. It also maps closely to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts if an attacker were to use stolen credentials, but in its current unauthenticated state, it reflects broader principles of Broken Object Level Authorization (BOLA) or Insecure Direct Object References where the system fails to enforce proper access controls on API endpoints. The failure to distinguish between public-facing interactions and administrative functions is a common pitfall in WordPress plugin development that requires rigorous validation at every entry point for privileged operations.
To mitigate this vulnerability, immediate updates to WPCafe version 3.0.18 or later are required as the developer has addressed these access control gaps. For organizations unable to update immediately due to compatibility constraints, temporary mitigations should include restricting access to the WordPress REST API endpoints using web application firewall rules that block unauthorized POST requests to reservation-related paths unless accompanied by valid session cookies and proper authentication headers. Additionally, implementing strict rate limiting on public-facing forms can reduce the risk of abuse through automated scripts attempting to exploit this flaw while waiting for a permanent patch deployment.