CVE-2026-1490
Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk <= 6.71 - Authorization Bypass via Reverse DNS (PTR record) Spoofing to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Plugin Installation
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- Wordfence
Description
The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to an authorization bypass via reverse DNS (PTR record) spoofing on the 'checkWithoutToken' function in all versions up to, and including, 6.71. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to achieve remote code execution if another vulnerable plugin is installed and activated. Note: This is only exploitable on sites with an invalid API key.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordfenceCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.3% · top 30% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Weakness
Affected products
cleantalk · Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk
- affected ≤ 6.71
References (4)
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/cb603be6-4a12-49e1-b8cc-b2062eb97f16?source=cve (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/cleantalk-spam-protect/trunk/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/RemoteCalls.php#L69 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/cleantalk-spam-protect/trunk/lib/Cleantalk/Common/Helper.php#L64 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3454488/cleantalk-spam-protect#file473 (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)
- 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://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-1490)Record last updated .