Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain victim's valid password
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DeliveryReach pending 2FA login prompt
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ExploitSubmit 2FA codes without rate limit
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ExecutionBrute force correct second factor
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ImpactComplete account takeover
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires that the attacker ALREADY possesses the target user's valid WordPress password, and that the account has two-factor authentication enabled through the Security Optimizer (formerly SG Security) plugin running a version before 1.6.9. The specific flaw is the absence of any limit on the number of 2FA codes submitted for a single pending login, which makes brute-forcing the second factor feasible. Limiting factors that reduce real-world risk: it is not exploitable from zero knowledge - prior credential compromise is a hard prerequisite; it only matters where 2FA is actually enabled by this plugin; and it is bounded to the vulnerable version range (<1.6.9), with a vendor patch available. |
| Impact | The signals point to a real but conditional, non-urgent issue rather than a mass-exploitation emergency. The input CVSS vector (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, 7.5) reflects network reach and total CIA impact (account takeover) but high attack complexity and a required privilege/precondition - consistent with the description's core gate: the attacker must ALREADY know the victim's password before brute-forcing the second factor. EPSS is low (0.18%, 8th percentile) and SSVC records Exploitation: none and Automatable: no, which agree with each other and reinforce that this is not seen being exploited and is not readily scriptable at scale; the one countervailing signal is SSVC Technical Impact: total, matching the C:H/I:H/A:H full-account-compromise outcome. There is no CISA KEV listing and no confirmed public exploit in the input, so this is high-impact-if-reached but not currently a widespread-exploitation priority. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_week', indicating patch within the normal near-term cycle rather than emergency. One tension worth noting: the official vector marks PR:L, but the real prerequisite is possession of the victim's password (stolen/phished credentials), not a system-granted privilege of the attacker - verify how the precondition is being modeled when prioritizing. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who has already obtained a user's WordPress password (via phishing, reuse, or a prior breach) reaches the login flow that is awaiting the second factor and, because the plugin before 1.6.9 does not cap the number of 2FA code submissions, automates guessing until the correct code is accepted. Success yields full takeover of that account, up to administrator if the targeted user is privileged. No public exploit was identified in the provided data. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Nov 01, 2026
The Security Optimizer WordPress plugin (formerly SG Security) before 1.6.9 fails to cap how many two-factor authentication codes can be submitted against a single pending login, so an attacker who already holds a user's valid WordPress password can brute force the second factor and complete account takeover. Affected sites are those running any version below 1.6.9 with 2FA enabled through this plugin; accounts without plugin-managed 2FA are not exposed by this flaw. The issue carries a published CVSS of 7.5 (assessed AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N, with NVD scoring PR:L) and a low EPSS of 0.18% (8th percentile); there is no CISA KEV entry and no confirmed public exploit code, and the vendor has released a fix.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade the Security Optimizer plugin to version 1.6.9 or later, which caps second-factor submission attempts for a pending login; the fix is documented in the WPScan advisory at https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/253fe868-0e85-496f-8b01-a8b5107db217/. Patch availability is confirmed from the vendor, and the priority signal places this in the current weekly remediation cycle rather than an emergency response, since there is no KEV listing, no confirmed public exploit code and a low EPSS. No vendor-documented workaround is described in the available sources, so updating is the only confirmed complete fix; where the update must be staged, treat every account that relies on this plugin's 2FA as having a materially weakened second factor and rotate WordPress passwords for those accounts, because prior password knowledge is the prerequisite that makes the brute force possible. Sites that cannot confirm their plugin version should verify it before assuming they are unaffected, given the flaw is bounded to releases below 1.6.9.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The root cause is CWE-287 (Improper Authentication): the plugin's second-factor verification endpoint accepts an unlimited number of code submissions for a pending login session rather than enforcing a retry cap, lockout or progressive delay. Because the pending-login state persists across submissions, an attacker can iterate candidate codes against the same session until the correct one is accepted, effectively reducing the strength of the second factor to the size of the code space divided by the number of attempts permitted - which here is unbounded. Knowing the primary credential is a hard prerequisite, so this is a post-credential-compromise escalation of access rather than a zero-knowledge authentication bypass; the issue only manifests where two-factor authentication is actually enabled through the Security Optimizer plugin, and only in the version range below 1.6.9. The public descriptions do not document the code length, attempt throttling behaviour at the web server or WAF layer, or whether other plugin features (login limiting) interact with the pending-login flow, so the practical effort to exhaust the code space is not quantified in the available sources. The flaw is classified as WordPress authentication bypass, with the CISA SSVC assessment recording Exploitation: none and Automatable: no, alongside a total technical impact if successfully executed.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Network-reachable login with no attacker-owned account (PR:N), but needing prior knowledge of the victim's password plus brute-force effort makes it high complexity (AC:H); successful takeover yields full C/I/A impact.
Primary rating from Vendor (wpscan).
CVSS VectorVendor: wpscan
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
The Security Optimizer WordPress plugin before 1.6.9 does not limit the number of two-factor authentication codes that can be submitted for a pending login, allowing an attacker who already knows a user's password to brute force the second factor and take over the account.
Executive ViewAI
A high-severity flaw in the Security Optimizer WordPress plugin (formerly SG Security) before version 1.6.9 allows attackers who already possess a valid user password to bypass two-factor authentication through unlimited code guessing, enabling full account takeover. Any site running this plugin with plugin-managed 2FA enabled below 1.6.9 is exposed, meaning administrators and privileged users on those WordPress installations are at elevated risk. Leadership should care because successful exploitation grants complete account control, potentially exposing site content, user data, and administrative capabilities.
Vendor-released patch: 1.6.9
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
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EUVD-2026-114584
GHSA-9wr6-gc4g-7v5m
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB