Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessIdentify WordPress site running Rank Math SEO
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DeliveryLocate password-protected post URL
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ExploitRequest post page unauthenticated
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ExecutionParse SEO metadata tags in page source
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ImpactExtract protected post content from metadata
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V14 - Data Protection Data exposure prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Collection, Discovery The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | The target WordPress site must have the Rank Math SEO plugin installed and active at a version below 1.0.277.1. At least one post on the site must be configured as password-protected (using WordPress's native post password feature) and must contain content that Rank Math uses to generate SEO metadata. No authentication is required; no special network position or configuration is needed beyond HTTP access to the site. Sites that do not use WordPress's password-protected post feature are not affected. |
| Impact | The CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) is well-calibrated for this vulnerability. The attack vector is fully remote with no prerequisites, but the confidentiality impact is limited - only post body content is exposed, and only for posts the site owner chose to protect with a password rather than keep private. Real-world risk is bounded by whether the affected WordPress site actually uses password-protected posts for genuinely sensitive material; sites that use the feature for obscurity (e.g., draft sharing with a link) face less meaningful exposure than those that use it for access control to sensitive content. A publicly available WPScan PoC lowers the exploitation bar significantly, making this a credible threat for any site running the vulnerable plugin range with password-protected posts. EPSS data is not provided in this input, but given the widespread deployment of Rank Math SEO and the zero-barrier exploitation path, prioritizing the patch is advisable for any operator using password protection as a meaningful access control. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An unauthenticated attacker identifies a WordPress site running Rank Math SEO with password-protected posts - discoverable by observing |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Sep 02, 2026
Rank Math SEO WordPress plugin versions before 1.0.277.1 exposes the full content of password-protected posts to unauthenticated users via publicly generated SEO metadata. The plugin fails to enforce WordPress's native post-password gate before extracting post content for use in meta tags and structured data, making protected content readable by anyone who can access the SEO output. A publicly available proof-of-concept is documented by WPScan; a vendor patch (1.0.277.1) is available.
RemediationAI
Update the Rank Math SEO plugin to version 1.0.277.1 or later, which introduces a password-protection check before including post content in SEO metadata generation. This update is available through the standard WordPress plugin update mechanism. As an immediate workaround for sites unable to patch, administrators can temporarily disable Rank Math SEO's metadata generation for individual posts using the plugin's per-post SEO settings, or switch password-protected posts to draft status until the patch is applied - note that both workarounds impact SEO functionality. If the content behind password-protected posts is genuinely sensitive, consider replacing WordPress password-protected posts with a role-based access control solution (e.g., a membership plugin) that enforces access at a lower level in the stack.
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
Rank Math SEO is a widely adopted WordPress plugin that generates on-page SEO metadata - including Open Graph tags, structured data (JSON-LD), and meta descriptions - by processing post content server-side. WordPress natively supports password-protected posts, which restrict body content rendering behind a password prompt. The plugin bypasses this gate when building SEO metadata, querying raw post content without checking the post's post_password field or calling post_password_required(). The root cause is CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor): the plugin treats all post content as public-facing data regardless of access controls. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:unknown:rank_math_seo:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* correctly identifies the software but uses a placeholder vendor; the real publisher is Rank Math (rankmath.com). All versions up to and including the last release before 1.0.277.1 are affected.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Network-reachable with no prerequisites; confidentiality impact is limited to password-protected post content, not credentials or system data.
Primary rating from Vendor (WPScan).
CVSS VectorVendor: WPScan
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
The Rank Math SEO WordPress plugin before 1.0.277.1 does not check whether a post is password protected before using its content to build publicly generated SEO metadata, allowing unauthenticated users to read the content of password-protected posts.
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
Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.
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EUVD-2026-69837
GHSA-99qg-4wj7-5hm6
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB