Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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ReconIdentify WordPress site running Contest Gallery
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DeliveryEnumerate valid WordPress username
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ExploitLocate Contest Gallery front-end login endpoint
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InstallSubmit rapid automated password attempts
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C2Brute-force throttling and 2FA hooks never invoked
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ExecuteAuth cookie issued upon correct guess
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ImpactFull administrator account takeover achieved
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
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 | The Contest Gallery WordPress plugin must be installed, activated, and its front-end login feature accessible on the target site - this is not a default WordPress configuration but is inherent to Contest Gallery deployments that use its login form. The target site must be running a plugin version below 30.0.7. The attacker must know or enumerate a valid WordPress username or email address to target; without a valid target identity, password guessing has no defined surface. Exploitation is limited to sites where Contest Gallery's front-end login path is reachable over the network. The CVSS PR:L designation implies low-privilege credentials may be required, but this conflicts with the description's framing of unlimited guessing 'against any account' - this ambiguity should be clarified with the vendor before making access-control-based risk decisions. SSVC Automatable: no indicates the attack does not trivially scale to mass automated targeting, likely reflecting the username enumeration prerequisite and per-site variation in the login endpoint path. |
| Impact | The reported CVSS 7.5 vector (AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) warrants scrutiny: AC:H and PR:L are inconsistent with the description, which states that attackers can perform unlimited password guessing against any account without requiring existing credentials. The AC:H designation may reflect the need to enumerate a valid username first, and PR:L may reflect an assumption about needing to know the Contest Gallery login endpoint path - but neither constitutes a meaningful technical barrier. EPSS is very low at 0.19% (9th percentile), and SSVC confirms Exploitation: none with Automatable: no, indicating no evidence of mass exploitation and inherent friction in chaining attacks at scale. However, the SSVC Technical Impact is rated total, accurately reflecting that successful exploitation yields full account takeover including administrator-level access. The presence of a publicly available POC from WPScan elevates real-world risk above what raw EPSS or SSVC exploitation status alone would suggest. The gap between the reported CVSS metrics and the description's implied severity is a data quality concern - verify the PR and AC assignments with the vendor or WPScan advisory. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who has identified a WordPress site running Contest Gallery navigates to the plugin's front-end login form and submits automated credential attempts against a known or enumerated administrator username, such as 'admin', at high speed. Because the plugin processes authentication independently of WordPress's hook system, Wordfence, WP Cerber, or any installed 2FA plugin receives no signal and applies no lockout or challenge - all attempts pass unchallenged until the correct password is found. A publicly available POC from WPScan demonstrates this credential stuffing or dictionary-attack path, lowering the skill threshold for exploitation. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Aug 05, 2026
Contest Gallery WordPress plugin before version 30.0.7 implements a custom front-end login mechanism that issues authentication cookies directly after password validation, entirely bypassing WordPress's standard authentication pipeline. This architectural shortcut renders all brute-force protection plugins and two-factor authentication plugins completely ineffective, allowing unlimited, unthrottled password guessing against any WordPress account - including administrators - up to full account takeover. A publicly available proof-of-concept exists per WPScan reporting, though CISA has not listed this in KEV and SSVC indicates no confirmed active exploitation at time of analysis.
RemediationAI
Update the Contest Gallery WordPress plugin to version 30.0.7 or later, which is confirmed available from the vendor per the WPScan advisory at https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/fa83e5a0-ed6a-4043-8df3-8654bb354a99/. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, the most effective compensating control is to deactivate the Contest Gallery plugin entirely until patching is possible - this eliminates the vulnerable login endpoint at the cost of disabling all contest functionality. A secondary interim control is to implement IP-based rate limiting at the web server or WAF layer targeting the specific Contest Gallery login endpoint URL, which partially restores the brute-force throttling that the plugin architecture bypasses at the application layer; note this does not restore 2FA bypass protection. Network-level blocking of the front-end login path via application firewall rules is operationally low-impact if contestants can be directed to use the standard WordPress login instead during the interim period.
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 Contest Gallery plugin (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:unknown:contest_gallery:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*) exposes its own front-end login form and processes credential validation internally, issuing WordPress authentication cookies via a direct code path rather than calling wp-signon() or triggering WordPress's authenticate/wp_authenticate_user filter hooks. Any security plugin that hooks into the standard WordPress authentication pipeline - including brute-force throttling plugins such as Wordfence or WP Cerber, and 2FA plugins such as WP 2FA or Google Authenticator - is architecturally bypassed because their hooks are never invoked. CWE-287 (Improper Authentication) captures the root cause precisely: the password check is performed, but the implementation is incomplete in that it omits the layered security controls WordPress's native flow enforces before issuing a session cookie. The vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin from 0 up to but not including 30.0.7.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Front-end login endpoint is network-accessible with no authentication prerequisite; brute-force attempt has no technical complexity once a username is known, yielding AC:L and PR:N rather than reported AC:H/PR:L.
Primary rating from Vendor (WPScan).
CVSS VectorVendor: WPScan
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionCVE.org
The Contest Gallery WordPress plugin before 30.0.7 does not route its front-end login through the standard WordPress authentication flow, issuing an authentication cookie directly after the password check, which bypasses installed brute-force-protection and two-factor-authentication Contest Gallery WordPress plugin before 30.0.7 and enables unlimited, unthrottled password guessing against any account (including administrators) up to full account takeover.
Executive ViewAI
Contest Gallery WordPress plugin (versions before 30.0.7) includes a custom login system that bypasses WordPress security layers, eliminating brute-force protection and two-factor authentication. Publicly available exploit code exists allowing attackers to brute-force credentials and compromise administrator accounts, gaining full control of affected WordPress sites.
Apply vendor patch (version 30.0.7 or later). Until patched, disable the Contest Gallery plugin's authentication feature and restrict administrative access to known IP addresses via firewall or VPN rules.
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
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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EUVD-2026-53121
GHSA-p2hg-mp68-hg8x
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB