CVE-2026-48888 in WooCommerce Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/08/2026
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Automattic WooCommerce allows HTTP DoS.
This issue affects WooCommerce: from n/a before 11.1.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/08/2026
The identified vulnerability represents a critical flaw within the Automattic WooCommerce plugin, specifically categorized as an allocation of resources without limits or throttling. This type of weakness is formally recognized under Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) ID CWE-770 and aligns with the resource exhaustion techniques documented in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under T1496. The core issue stems from the application's failure to implement adequate constraints on the amount of system resources, such as CPU cycles, memory, or network bandwidth, that a single user session or request can consume during specific operations. In the context of WooCommerce, which serves as the backbone for millions of e-commerce websites globally, this lack of throttling creates a significant attack surface for Denial of Service attacks.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability typically involves endpoints within the plugin that process complex queries or data structures without imposing strict limits on input size or processing time. An attacker can exploit this by sending specially crafted HTTP requests that trigger resource-intensive operations, such as deep recursive database queries, excessive memory allocation for image processing, or unbounded loops in PHP execution. Because WooCommerce is designed to handle high volumes of traffic during peak shopping periods, the absence of rate limiting or request throttling means that a relatively small number of malicious requests can rapidly deplete server resources. This leads to a state where legitimate users are unable to access the website, experience severe latency, or encounter complete service outages as the web server becomes overwhelmed and unresponsive.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial for businesses relying on WooCommerce for revenue generation. A successful exploitation results in a Denial of Service condition that disrupts business continuity. Customers may be unable to browse products, add items to their cart, or complete checkout processes, leading directly to lost sales and potential damage to brand reputation. Furthermore, the strain placed on server infrastructure can cause cascading failures across other services hosted on the same environment, affecting not just the e-commerce platform but potentially associated applications like email servers or customer relationship management tools. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it does not require authentication in many cases, allowing unauthenticated attackers to launch attacks from any location with minimal effort and cost.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both immediate remediation and long-term architectural improvements. The primary defense against this specific flaw is the immediate upgrade of the WooCommerce plugin to version 11.1.0 or later, where Automattic has implemented necessary resource limits and throttling mechanisms to prevent excessive consumption. In addition to updating software, administrators should implement network-level protections such as Web Application Firewalls that can detect and block anomalous traffic patterns indicative of DoS attacks. Rate limiting at the reverse proxy level using tools like Nginx or Apache modules is also critical to restrict the number of requests a single IP address can make within a given timeframe. Regular security audits and load testing should be conducted to ensure that resource allocation policies remain effective as new features are added, ensuring resilience against evolving threat vectors targeting e-commerce infrastructure.