parorrey JSON API Auth Plugin up to 3.1.2 on WordPress Auth Controller Auth.php wp_generate_auth_cookie insecure improper authentication

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in parorrey JSON API Auth Plugin up to 3.1.2. Affected by this issue is the function wp_generate_auth_cookie of the file Auth.php of the component Auth Controller. Executing a manipulation of the argument insecure can lead to improper authentication. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-97637. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in parorrey JSON API Auth Plugin up to 3.1.2 and classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function wp_generate_auth_cookie of the file Auth.php of the component Auth Controller. The manipulation of the argument insecure with an unknown input leads to a improper authentication vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-287. When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The JSON API Auth plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Cached Session Cookie Disclosure in all versions up to, and including, 3.1.2. The vulnerability exists because the required PI-Media/json-api parent plugin caches controller dispatch results in transients keyed solely by URI and query string, ignoring HTTP method and POST body; this causes the `generate_auth_cookie()` endpoint — which embeds a live WordPress `logged_in` cookie produced by `wp_generate_auth_cookie()` directly in its JSON response body — to serve that cached authenticated response to any subsequent unauthenticated GET request to the same URI. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to retrieve a valid Administrator `logged_in` session cookie from the cached response and use it to fully authenticate as the site Administrator, including via the same plugin's `get_currentuserinfo` endpoint and any cookie-authenticated controller action. Exploitation requires the PI-Media/json-api parent plugin to be installed and active with the Auth controller enabled, and a legitimate Administrator must have POSTed to `/api/auth/generate_auth_cookie/` within the preceding 24-hour cache TTL; the nominal HTTPS enforcement gate present in `Auth.php` is trivially bypassed by supplying `insecure=cool` as a request parameter.

The advisory is shared for download at wordfence.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-97637 since 09/24/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is required for a successful exploitation. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. 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 10/02/2026).

By approaching the search of inurl:Auth.php it is possible to find vulnerable targets with Google Hacking.

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

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• WordPress Plugin

Vendor

• parorrey

Name

• JSON API Auth Plugin

Version

• 3.1.0
• 3.1.1
• 3.1.2

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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