CVE-2026-1729

Critical

Published: 12 February 2026

Published

12 February 2026

Modified

15 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0013 31.7th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-1729 is a critical-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Themeforest (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 31.7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190). What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

prevent

Requires systems to uniquely identify and authenticate users prior to access, directly preventing the authentication bypass vulnerability in the sb_login_user_with_otp_fun function.

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Mandates timely identification, reporting, and correction of system flaws like CVE-2026-1729, preventing exploitation through patching the vulnerable AdForest theme.

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

prevent

Enforces approved authorizations for logical access in accordance with access control policies, mitigating unauthorized login as arbitrary users including administrators.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

The vulnerability is an authentication bypass in a public-facing WordPress theme, directly enabling exploitation of a public-facing application for unauthorized access.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

NVD Description

The AdForest theme for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in all versions up to, and including, 6.0.12. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying a user's identity prior to authenticating them through the 'sb_login_user_with_otp_fun' function. This makes…

it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as arbitrary users, including administrators.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-1729 is an authentication bypass vulnerability in the AdForest theme for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 6.0.12. The flaw occurs because the theme fails to properly verify a user's identity prior to authenticating them through the 'sb_login_user_with_otp_fun' function, as documented in the CVE description published on 2026-02-12. This issue is classified under CWE-306 (Missing Authentication for Critical Function) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation allows attackers to log in as arbitrary users, including administrators, potentially granting full control over the affected WordPress site.

Mitigation details are available in related advisories, including the Wordfence threat intelligence report at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/34fd42cb-3868-4b1c-bc56-575faf01e8f3?source=cve and the AdForest theme listing on ThemeForest at https://themeforest.net/item/adforest-classified-wordpress-theme/19481695.