CVE-2026-96834 in GiveWP Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/30/2026
Subscriber Sensitive Data Exposure in GiveWP <= 4.16.9 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/30/2026
The vulnerability identified as Subscriber Sensitive Data Exposure in GiveWP versions prior to 4.16.9 represents a significant information disclosure flaw within the popular WordPress donation plugin ecosystem. This issue stems from insufficient access controls and improper data sanitization practices inherent in how the application handles subscriber profile information. Specifically, the software fails to adequately restrict visibility of sensitive personal details associated with donor accounts, allowing unauthorized or unintended parties to retrieve this data through standard API endpoints or administrative interfaces that were not designed for public consumption. The core technical flaw lies in the lack of robust authorization checks when querying user metadata, which permits attackers to extract personally identifiable information such as email addresses, physical mailing addresses, and potentially other demographic details linked to donation records without requiring valid authentication tokens or possessing elevated privilege levels beyond what is typically granted to low-privilege users.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-200: Information Exposure, where security-sensitive information is disclosed to an unauthorized actor. The mechanism of exploitation often involves manipulating HTTP requests to target specific endpoints that return subscriber data in JSON or HTML formats without verifying the requester's permissions against the requested resource owner. In many cases, these APIs may default to returning broad datasets if no explicit user context is provided, or they might allow enumeration by iterating through sequential identifiers such as donor IDs or subscription numbers. This behavior creates a predictable attack surface where automated tools can systematically harvest large volumes of sensitive data simply by probing known endpoint structures and parameter values. The absence of rate limiting further exacerbates the risk, enabling rapid bulk extraction that could overwhelm system resources while simultaneously compromising privacy compliance standards like GDPR or CCPA due to the mass exposure of personal data.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe for organizations relying on GiveWP to manage charitable contributions and donor relationships. Beyond the immediate breach of confidentiality, the exposure of subscriber sensitive data can lead to targeted phishing campaigns where attackers use harvested email addresses and names to craft convincing social engineering attacks aimed at stealing login credentials or financial information from donors. Furthermore, the leakage of physical mailing addresses increases the risk of real-world harassment or identity theft for vulnerable populations who may rely on anonymity for their donations. For the organization itself, this incident constitutes a critical failure in data governance, potentially resulting in regulatory fines, loss of donor trust, and reputational damage that can significantly reduce future fundraising capabilities. The integrity of the donation platform is compromised as users lose confidence in the security infrastructure protecting their contributions and personal details.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate remediation through software updates alongside defensive architectural adjustments. Administrators should upgrade GiveWP to version 4.16.9 or later, where these access control flaws have been addressed by implementing stricter permission checks on all data retrieval endpoints. In addition to patching, it is advisable to implement Web Application Firewall rules that detect and block abnormal patterns of API requests indicative of enumeration attacks. Enforcing multi-factor authentication for administrative accounts reduces the risk of credential-based exploitation if other vectors are present. Regular security audits focusing on input validation and output encoding should be conducted to ensure compliance with industry standards such as OWASP Top 10, particularly regarding Broken Access Control (CWE-284) and Sensitive Data Exposure. Continuous monitoring for anomalous data access patterns can also help detect potential exploitation attempts in real-time before significant damage occurs.