CVE-2026-94260 in Sifalo Pay Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/14/2026
The Sifalo Pay WordPress plugin before 2.5.3 does not verify ownership of, or authorisation for, the order being updated when it handles a payment return, allowing unauthenticated attackers to write arbitrary payment session metadata onto any order in the store and to force any order awaiting payment into a failed state.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/14/2026
The vulnerability identified in Sifalo Pay WordPress plugin versions prior to 2.5.3 represents a critical failure in access control logic, specifically within the handling of payment return callbacks. This flaw stems from an insufficient verification process where the application fails to validate that the user initiating the update possesses legitimate ownership or authorization for the specific order being modified. In typical e-commerce architectures, particularly those built on WordPress with WooCommerce integration, payment gateways often send asynchronous notifications back to the site upon transaction completion or failure. These callbacks are designed to update internal state variables such as order status and metadata based on external financial data. However, in this instance, the plugin does not enforce strict ownership checks before accepting these updates from unauthenticated sources or even authenticated users without proper permissions for that specific resource.
From a technical perspective, this is a classic example of Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR) combined with Broken Access Control. The application accepts parameters related to order identifiers and payment statuses but does not cross-reference them against the current user's session data or database ownership records before applying changes. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to craft malicious requests that target arbitrary order IDs within the store’s database. By manipulating these inputs, the attacker can overwrite critical payment session metadata associated with any given transaction. Furthermore, because the logic permits forcing orders into a failed state regardless of actual payment outcomes, it introduces significant integrity issues into the financial records maintained by the platform.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe for both merchants and customers using the affected plugin. Merchants face direct risks including data integrity corruption, where legitimate transactions are incorrectly marked as failed due to malicious manipulation. This can lead to inventory discrepancies, incorrect accounting reports, and potential loss of revenue if orders are cancelled or refunded erroneously based on tampered status updates. For customers, this vulnerability undermines trust in the payment process, potentially resulting in confusion regarding order statuses and delays in fulfillment. Additionally, the ability to write arbitrary metadata could be leveraged as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks, such as privilege escalation or further exploitation of other plugins that rely on accurate WooCommerce data structures.
This issue aligns with CWE-284 Improper Access Control and CWE-915 Improperly Controlled Modification of Dynamically-Determined Object Attributes from the Common Weakness Enumeration standards. In terms of offensive security frameworks, it maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078 Valid Accounts if exploited by authenticated users with low privileges, or generally falls under unauthorized resource modification patterns seen in web application attacks. To mitigate this risk, immediate action is required to upgrade the Sifalo Pay plugin to version 2.5.3 or later where these access control checks have been implemented. Administrators should also ensure that all WordPress core components and related plugins are updated to their latest secure versions. Implementing additional server-side validation for payment callbacks, such as verifying digital signatures provided by the payment gateway, can further harden the system against similar tampering attempts in other integrations.