CVE-2026-8499Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews <= 1.2.9 - Inccorect Authorization via Type Juggling in 'token' Parameter to Arbitrary Settings Update
- 5.3MediumCVSS base score
- 0.27%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 80% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
The Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authorization Bypass via PHP Type Juggling in versions up to, and including, 1.2.9. This is due to the `helpfulcrowd_validate_token()` function using a loose comparison operator (`!=`) instead of a strict comparison (`!==`) when validating the `token` parameter, while the corresponding REST route `/wp-json/helpfulcrowd/v1/update-settings` is registered with a `permission_callback` of `__return_true`, making it reachable by unauthenticated users; submitting a JSON boolean `true` as the `token` value causes PHP's loose comparison to evaluate as equal to the non-empty base64-encoded secret string, bypassing the check entirely. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to invoke `helpfulcrowd_settings_endpoint()` and write arbitrary attacker-controlled key-value pairs directly into the `helpfulcrowd_options` WordPress database option via `update_option()` without any sanitization or allowlist filtering, enabling full unauthenticated modification of the plugin's stored configuration.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Wordfence
- 27 days later
· 27 days later
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordfenceCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium5.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Medium5.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.27% · top 80% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.3.
Affected products
helpfulcrowd · Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews
- affected ≤ 1.2.9
References
References4
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/26f34aa0-8584-4156-b084-d34a0ab0a997?source=cve (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/helpfulcrowd-product-reviews/tags/1.2.9/includes/HelpfulcrowdCustomEndpoints.php#L13 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/helpfulcrowd-product-reviews/tags/1.2.9/includes/HelpfulcrowdCustomEndpoints.php#L71 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/helpfulcrowd-product-reviews/tags/1.2.9/includes/core.php#L122 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-35302 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-8499)Record last updated .