CVE-2026-16774
WPBot <= 8.5.9 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Email Relay via wpcs_send_email AJAX Action
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- Wordfence
Description
The Chatbot plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Missing Authorization in versions up to, and including, 8.5.9 via the wpcs_send_email() AJAX handler. This is due to the wpcs_send_email() function being registered on both wp_ajax_wpcs_send_email and wp_ajax_nopriv_wpcs_send_email with no nonce verification, capability check, or rate limiting, while forwarding attacker-controlled recipient, subject, and body directly to wp_mail(). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to send arbitrary emails to any recipient from the site's domain, enabling spam, phishing, and abuse that can lead to the site's IP/domain being blacklisted.
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)
- 0.40% · top 65% of all CVEs (7 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.
Weakness
Affected products
References (5)
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3cc6aa06-ab2a-4d5c-bbbe-4c19722ccc53?source=cve (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/chatbot/tags/8.5.9/includes/chat-sessions/wpbot-chat-sessions.php#L494 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/chatbot/tags/8.5.9/includes/chat-sessions/wpbot-chat-sessions.php#L483 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/chatbot/tags/8.5.9/includes/chat-sessions/wpbot-chat-sessions.php#L478 (opens in a new tab)
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3621386%40chatbot&new=3621386%40chatbot (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-2026-16774)Record last updated .