Hivepress Authentication - Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-18056)

Q: Am I affected by this vulnerability?

You are affected if your site runs Hivepress Authentication. No account is needed to exploit this, so a public site is reachable by anyone.

Q: How do I fix it?

Update Hivepress Authentication to the latest available version. Where the vendor has not yet published a fix, remove or disable the plugin until they do. Until you can update, Administrator multi-factor authentication in Hack Halt Pro contains this class of attack at the request layer.

Q: What can an attacker actually do?

This is a Authentication Bypass flaw. An attacker who exploits it can sign in as another user, frequently an administrator, without a password.

CVE-2026-18056

Vulnerability CVE-2026-18056 PLUGIN hivepress-authentication HIGH

The HivePress Authentication plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via the access_token parameter in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.4. This is due to the authenticate_user function's Facebook authenticator resolving third-party identity by forwarding the attacker-supplied access_token to the Facebook Graph API and trusting the returned email and ID verbatim, without performing any application ID or audience validation — specifically, no /debug_token verification and no comparison of the token's app_id against the configured hp_facebook_app_id. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to authenticate as any existing WordPress user, including administrators, whose email address is associated with a Facebook account for which the attacker can obtain any valid access token. Important Note: To exploit the vulnerability, the attacker must obtain the victim's access token.

CVE-2026-18056

HIGH CVSS 7.5 Published 2026-09-06 Updated 2026-09-08

AI Risk Critical (100/100) Active Exploit: Likely Published Exploit: Public exploit references found Priority: P1 Immediate

Severity Band HIGH

CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Components 1

Reference Links 6

AI Risk Engine Critical (100/100)

Exploitability High

Active Exploitation Likely

Published Exploit Status Public exploit references found

Threat Timeline

2026-09-06 CVE published and first recorded in the threat feed.
2026-09-08 Record updated with latest vulnerability metadata.
2026-09-06 AI technical context refreshed for mitigation and impact guidance.
Now Monitoring for follow-up changes, linked references, and new related CVEs.

AI Context

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AI Updated 31 days ago

AI enriched 31 days ago (2026-09-06 09:05 UTC)

Technical Summary

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 High based on published exploit references, remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites.

Primary risk drivers: published exploit references, remote code execution potential, 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 100/100 (Critical, High) with priority P1 Immediate. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.

Affected Products

Hivepress Authentication PLUGIN · hivepress-authentication Affected: >= 0, <= 1.1.4 Fixed version not specified

References

What to do about this

Patch immediately Serious, and reachable without meaningful privilege.

Fix it

Update Hivepress Authentication to the latest available version.

Where the vendor has not published a fix yet, disable the plugin until they do.

Cannot update today? Administrator multi-factor authentication in Hack Halt Pro blocks this class of attack before WordPress processes the request.

Require a second factor for every administrator account. This is the single highest-value control against credential stuffing and reused passwords, because a valid password alone stops being enough.

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