CVE-2026-94274 in YayReviews Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
The YayReviews WordPress plugin before 1.4.1 does not restrict access to an API route that returns individual customer review records, including reviews still pending moderation, allowing unauthenticated attackers to harvest reviewers' email addresses and other non-public review content.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The vulnerability identified in the YayReviews WordPress plugin prior to version 1.4.1 represents a critical failure in access control mechanisms within the application's API layer. Specifically, an endpoint designed to retrieve individual customer review records was found to lack proper authentication or authorization checks. This architectural flaw allows any unauthenticated actor on the internet to interact with the API and request data for specific reviews by manipulating input parameters such as review IDs. The absence of these security controls means that the server processes requests from anonymous users without verifying their identity or permissions, effectively exposing sensitive backend logic to public access.
The technical nature of this flaw aligns closely with CWE-284, which describes Improper Access Control, and more specifically CWE-601, URL Redirection to Untrusted Site (Open Redirect) is not applicable here but the core issue is Unauthorized Access to Sensitive Information via an API endpoint. In a typical WordPress environment, review data often contains personally identifiable information including customer names, email addresses, purchase details, and written feedback. By exploiting this unrestricted route, attackers can programmatically scrape large volumes of these records. The vulnerability permits access not only to published reviews but also to those still pending moderation, thereby bypassing standard content filtering workflows intended by the site administrators.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for both website owners and their customers. For businesses using YayReviews, the exposure leads to a direct violation of data privacy regulations such as GDPR or CCPA due to the unauthorized disclosure of customer email addresses and other personal details. This can result in legal liabilities, reputational damage, and loss of consumer trust. Furthermore, harvested email addresses are frequently utilized for targeted phishing campaigns, spamming, or credential stuffing attacks against users who may reuse passwords across different platforms. The ability to access pending reviews also allows attackers to gather intelligence on customer behavior before the content is publicly visible, potentially enabling social engineering tactics that rely on knowledge of recent purchases or interactions.
Mitigation strategies must focus on immediate remediation and long-term security hardening. Site administrators should upgrade the YayReviews plugin to version 1.4.1 or later where this access control issue has been resolved by implementing proper authentication checks for API endpoints. In addition to updating, it is advisable to implement Web Application Firewall rules that monitor for unusual patterns of data extraction via API routes. Security best practices dictate that all sensitive APIs should require valid session tokens or OAuth credentials before returning any user-specific data. Regular security audits and penetration testing can help identify similar misconfigurations in other plugins or custom code within the WordPress ecosystem, ensuring a more robust defense against unauthorized data access.