Ventraconnect Social Login - Authentication Bypass (CVE-2026-18961)

Q: Am I affected by this vulnerability?

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

Q: How do I fix it?

Update Ventraconnect Social Login 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-2026-18961

Vulnerability CVE-2026-18961 PLUGIN ventraconnect-social-login HIGH

The Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Unverified Provider Email in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.3. This is due to the plugin trusting the unverified email field returned by Spotify's /v1/me endpoint as proof of mailbox ownership — Generic::normalize_common() copies this value into the normalized profile without requiring an email_verified assertion, and User_Links::link_or_login_user() subsequently passes it directly to get_user_by('email', $email) and issues a persistent authentication cookie via wp_set_auth_cookie() without a provider-specific verified-email gate, a local mailbox challenge, or a logged-in approval step. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing WordPress user, including Administrators, by supplying a known target email address through a controlled Spotify OAuth flow, gaining full administrative access to the site.

CVE-2026-18961

HIGH CVSS 8.1 Published 2026-08-12 Updated 2026-08-12

AI Risk High (87/100) Active Exploit: No strong signal Published Exploit: No public exploit references Priority: P2 Urgent

Severity Band HIGH

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

Affected Components 1

Reference Links 7

AI Risk Engine High (87/100)

Exploitability Very High

Active Exploitation No strong signal

Published Exploit Status No public exploit references

Threat Timeline

2026-08-12 CVE published and first recorded in the threat feed.
2026-08-12 Record updated with latest vulnerability metadata.
2026-08-12 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 93 days ago

AI enriched 93 days ago (2026-08-12 17:45 UTC)

Technical Summary

Potential Impact

Severity is HIGH (CVSS 8.1). Depending on deployment context, affected components may be exposed to unauthorized actions or data integrity risk.

Exploitability Assessment

Exploitability is assessed as Very High based on remote code execution potential, low-bar exploit prerequisites.

Primary risk drivers: 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 87/100 (High, Very High) with priority P2 Urgent. Prioritize remediation where affected components process customer data, admin sessions, or Internet-exposed workflows.

Affected Products

Ventraconnect Social Login PLUGIN · ventraconnect-social-login Affected: <= 1.4.3 Fixed version not specified

References

What to do about this

Patch immediately Serious, and reachable without meaningful privilege.

Fix it

Update Ventraconnect Social Login 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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Am I affected by this vulnerability?