Password Protected - Security Vulnerability (CVE-2026-14943)

AI enriched 95 days ago (2026-08-08 19:35 UTC)

Technical Summary

The Password Protected — Lock Entire Site, Pages, Posts, Categories, and Partial Content WordPress plugin before 2.8.4 does not restrict REST API access to authenticated users when a specific option is enabled, allowing unauthenticated visitors to bypass the sitewide password gate and read otherwise-protected content and account identifiers via the REST API. This re-introduces a previously-fixed issue (CVE-2024-0437), which was patched in 2.6.7 and regressed in 2.6.8.

Potential Impact

Severity is HIGH (CVSS 7.5). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.

Exploitability Assessment

Exploitability is assessed as Medium based on low-bar exploit prerequisites.

Primary risk drivers: low-bar exploit prerequisites

Mitigation Recommendations

Validate affected product versions, prioritize patching, and monitor references for vendor remediation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, apply compensating controls and limit exposure of vulnerable surfaces.

Detection & Monitoring

Track authentication anomalies, unexpected file writes, and suspicious plugin API activity around affected components.

Business Impact Lens

AI risk score 74/100 (Elevated, Medium) with priority P3 Priority. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.