CVE-2026-96173 in Payments for Hubtel Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/01/2026
The Payments for Hubtel WordPress plugin before 1.0.2 does not verify that the requester is authorized to view an order before redirecting a public payment-callback request, allowing unauthenticated attackers to obtain the order key of an arbitrary order and view its contents.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/01/2026
The vulnerability identified in the Payments for Hubtel WordPress plugin prior to version 1.0.2 represents a critical failure in access control mechanisms within the application's payment processing workflow. This flaw specifically affects how the plugin handles incoming callback requests from external payment gateways, which are essential components of any e-commerce system designed to process transactions securely. The core issue lies in the absence of proper authorization checks when these callbacks are processed by the server-side logic. In a secure implementation, any request triggering sensitive operations or data retrieval must first verify that the requester possesses valid credentials or is acting on behalf of an authenticated user with appropriate permissions. However, this plugin fails to perform such verification before executing its primary function related to order status updates and data exposure.
From a technical perspective, the vulnerability stems from the direct handling of public-facing endpoints without implementing necessary security controls. When a payment gateway sends a callback notification to confirm the completion or failure of a transaction, it typically includes an identifier for the specific order involved. The vulnerable code in this plugin accepts these requests and proceeds to retrieve detailed information about the referenced order based solely on the provided identifier. Because there is no mechanism to validate whether the current session or request context has permission to access that particular order's data, any individual with knowledge of a valid order key can exploit this logic flaw. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to iterate through potential order keys and retrieve sensitive information associated with those orders without needing to log in as a customer or administrator.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for both merchants using the plugin and their customers. By obtaining the order key, attackers can access detailed contents of arbitrary orders. This may include personally identifiable information such as names, email addresses, shipping addresses, and potentially payment details depending on how the data is stored and displayed within the WordPress environment. The exposure of this sensitive customer data constitutes a severe privacy breach and violates principles of confidentiality mandated by various data protection regulations. Furthermore, if the order contents contain internal notes or specific business logic that could be leveraged for further attacks, such as social engineering or targeted phishing campaigns against customers, the risk profile increases substantially.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which describes Improper Access Control, specifically highlighting failures in verifying user authorization before granting access to resources. It also maps closely to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, although in this case, it is exploited by unauthenticated actors due to the lack of authentication requirements for specific endpoints rather than stolen credentials. The attack vector is classified as remote and requires no user interaction beyond knowing or guessing an order identifier, making it highly exploitable at scale. Attackers can automate requests to enumerate valid orders and extract data efficiently, leading to large-scale data exfiltration if left unpatched.
To mitigate this risk, immediate action must be taken by administrators of websites running the affected plugin version. The primary remediation step is to update the Payments for Hubtel WordPress plugin to version 1.0.2 or later, where these access control checks have been implemented. Until an update can be applied, temporary mitigations may include restricting access to the specific callback endpoints via web server configuration if possible, although this requires precise knowledge of the endpoint URLs and may interfere with legitimate payment gateway communications. Additionally, implementing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that monitors for unusual patterns in order key retrieval requests could provide an additional layer of defense against automated enumeration attacks. Regular security audits and adherence to secure coding practices that enforce strict authorization checks on all data access points are essential to prevent similar vulnerabilities in future development cycles.