Security Hardener Plugin up to 2.4.4 on WordPress secure_user_endpoints improper authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Security Hardener Plugin up to 2.4.4. Impacted is the function secure_user_endpoints. Such manipulation leads to improper authorization. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-16149. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Security Hardener Plugin up to 2.4.4 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is the function secure_user_endpoints. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authorization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-285. The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The Security Hardener plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. The vulnerability exists because the plugin's user-enumeration protection, which is enabled by default, hooks the rest_endpoints filter via secure_user_endpoints() and overwrites every registered handler's permission_callback on both the /wp/v2/users and /wp/v2/users/(?P<id>[\d]+) routes — including POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE handlers — with a bare closure that returns only is_user_logged_in(), completely stripping WordPress Core's original capability checks such as create_users, promote_user, edit_users, and delete_users that WP_REST_Users_Controller normally enforces. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to create new Administrator accounts by sending POST request to /wp/v2/users with administrator role, or to reset an existing Administrator's password by issuing a PUT/POST request to /wp/v2/users/<id>. Because the block_user_enum option defaults to enabled, no special plugin configuration is required — the overwrite is active on every request as soon as the plugin is installed.

The advisory is shared for download at wordfence.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-16149 since 07/17/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/23/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1548.002.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Type

• WordPress Plugin

Name

• Security Hardener Plugin

Version

• 2.4.0
• 2.4.1
• 2.4.2
• 2.4.3
• 2.4.4

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CPE 2.2info

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