Security Resilience

CVE-2026-11551

Auth Bypass

Auth Bypass
Published
20 June 2026
Modified
23 June 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0062 49th percentile
Risk Priority 72 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-11551 is a critical-severity Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password (CWE-640) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Valid Accounts (T1078); ranked at the 49th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to IA-12 (Identity Proofing) and IA-5 (Authenticator Management) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The Branda plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation via account takeover in all versions up to, and including, 3.4.29. This is due to the plugin not properly validating a user's identity prior to updating their password. This makes…

more

it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change arbitrary user's passwords, including administrators, and leverage that to gain access to their account.

CWE(s)
CWE-640

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-8692Shared CWE-640
CVE-2026-7459Shared CWE-640
CVE-2025-32486Shared CWE-640
CVE-2026-19632Shared CWE-640
CVE-2026-40585Shared CWE-640
CVE-2026-2564Shared CWE-640
CVE-2026-33707Shared CWE-640
CVE-2023-5959Shared CWE-640
CVE-2025-61977Shared CWE-640
CVE-2023-43650Shared CWE-640

Affected Assets

Wordpress
—
inferred from references and description; NVD did not file a CPE for this CVE

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

IA-12 Identity Proofing good match

Identity proofing at appropriate assurance levels ensures forgotten-password recovery cannot succeed without strong verification of the user.

IA-5 Authenticator Management good match

Authenticator management requires secure distribution, reset, and verification procedures that directly address weak password recovery flows.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-01 mostly match
blocks

Credential lifecycle management directly includes password reset/recovery flows.

PR.AA-02 mostly match
blocks

Identity proofing is the core control that prevents weak or bypassed recovery mechanisms.

PR.AA-03 partial match
blocks

Authentication policy covers strength/MFA but does not address recovery path weaknesses.

PR.PS-06 partial match
blocks

Secure SDLC reduces implementation flaws but is not specific to password-recovery design.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards can prevent weak recovery implementations, yet the control is wider in scope.

References