Full Report
Multiple critical security flaws have been disclosed in WordPress plugins and themes, including WPMU DEV Dashboard, Avada, TranslatePress, Pods, and GiveWP, that could lead to authentication bypass, account takeover, and arbitrary code execution. The vulnerabilities, according to Wordfence and Patchstack, are listed below - CVE-2026-76581 (CVSS score: 9.8) - An authentication bypass flaw in
Analysis Summary
# Vulnerability: Multiple Critical WordPress Plugin and Theme Flaws
## CVE Details
- **CVE ID:** CVE-2026-76581, CVE-2026-18431, CVE-2026-19632, CVE-2026-19598, CVE-2026-82222
- **CVSS Score:** 9.8 to 10.0 (Critical)
- **CWE:** Authentication Bypass, Arbitrary File Write, Sensitive Information Exposure, Privilege Escalation, PHP Object Injection.
## Affected Systems
- **Products & Versions:**
- **WPMU DEV Dashboard:** Up to and including v5.0.1.
- **Avada Theme:** Up to and including v7.16.
- **Fusion Builder Plugin:** Up to and including v3.16.
- **TranslatePress:** Up to and including v3.3.1.
- **Pods – Custom Content Types and Fields:** Up to and including v3.3.9.
- **GiveWP:** Up to and including v4.16.7.1.
- **Configurations:**
- **WPMU DEV:** Requires Hub SSO enabled and mapped to an administrator.
- **Avada:** Requires Fusion Builder plugin to be active.
- **TranslatePress:** Requires automatic string saving enabled and administrator profile locale set to a secondary language.
- **GiveWP:** Requires at least one published donation form and one active payment gateway.
## Vulnerability Description
This collection of flaws represents various high-impact attack vectors:
- **Authentication Bypass/Privilege Escalation:** Flaws in WPMU DEV and Pods allow unauthenticated attackers to gain administrative access or overwrite user passwords.
- **Remote Code Execution (RCE):** Avada suffers from an arbitrary file write flaw allowing PHP execution. GiveWP is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection via a "safe unserialize" helper that fails to strip malicious objects, combined with a gadget chain in its codebase.
- **Information Exposure:** TranslatePress exposes raw password-reset URLs (including plaintext keys) due to improper handling of automatic string translations.
## Exploitation
- **Status:** PoC available (detailed research published by Wordfence and Patchstack).
- **Complexity:** Low to Medium (Avada requires a complex 6-step process; GiveWP requires specific environment "ingredients").
- **Attack Vector:** Network (Unauthenticated)
## Impact
- **Confidentiality:** Critical (Full access to site data, passwords, and server files).
- **Integrity:** Critical (Ability to modify site content, user accounts, and server-side code).
- **Availability:** Critical (Potential for complete site takeover and service disruption).
## Remediation
### Patches
Users should update to the following versions (or higher) immediately:
- **WPMU DEV Dashboard:** v5.0.2+
- **Avada Theme:** v7.17+
- **Fusion Builder:** v3.17+
- **TranslatePress:** v3.3.2+
- **Pods:** v3.4.0+
- **GiveWP:** v4.17.0+
### Workarounds
- **WPMU DEV:** Disable Hub Single-Sign On (SSO) until patched.
- **TranslatePress:** Disable "automatic string saving" and ensure administrators use the default site language.
- **General:** Restrict access to administrative login pages and implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF).
## Detection
- **Indicators of Compromise:** Unusual administrative account creation, unauthorized password resets, presence of unknown `.php` files in the `/wp-content/uploads/` or theme directories.
- **Detection methods:** Monitor web server logs for suspicious POST requests to donation forms (GiveWP) or SSO endpoints (WPMU DEV). Use security plugins like Wordfence or Patchstack to scan for known vulnerability signatures.
## References
- Wordfence Research: hxxps[://]www[.]wordfence[.]com/blog/2026/08/
- Patchstack Advisory: hxxps[://]patchstack[.]com/articles/unauthenticated-php-object-injection-to-remote-code-execution-on-givewp/
- The Hacker News: hxxps[://]thehackernews[.]com/2026/08/five-critical-wordpress-plugin-and.html