CVE-2026-22182
Published: 13 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-22182 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Gvectors Wpdiscuz. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Service Exhaustion Flood (T1499.002); ranked at the 40.3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-22182 is an unauthenticated denial-of-service vulnerability in the wpDiscuz WordPress plugin versions prior to 7.6.47. The issue stems from the checkNotificationType() function, which lacks nonce verification, authentication checks, and rate limiting. Attackers can exploit this by repeatedly calling the wpdiscuz-ajax.php endpoint with arbitrary postId and comment_id parameters, triggering mass notification emails to subscribers. The vulnerability is rated 7.5 on the CVSS 3.1 scale (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) and is associated with CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) and CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling).
Anonymous attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low complexity and no privileges required. By sending repeated requests to the vulnerable endpoint, they can flood email subscribers of affected WordPress sites with notifications, potentially overwhelming email servers, exhausting resources, and disrupting service availability for legitimate users.
Advisories, including the wpDiscuz plugin page on WordPress.org and a detailed report from VulnCheck, recommend updating to wpDiscuz version 7.6.47 or later to mitigate the issue, as this version addresses the lack of protections in the notification handler.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-11739
Vulnerability details
wpDiscuz before 7.6.47 contains an unauthenticated denial of service vulnerability that allows anonymous users to trigger mass notification emails by exploiting the checkNotificationType() function. Attackers can repeatedly call the wpdiscuz-ajax.php endpoint with arbitrary postId and comment_id parameters to flood subscribers…
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with notifications, as the handler lacks nonce verification, authentication checks, and rate limiting.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Unauthenticated abuse of notification endpoint enables mass email flooding, directly facilitating endpoint DoS via service/application resource exhaustion.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly addresses the lack of rate limiting in the checkNotificationType() function by implementing denial-of-service protections to prevent flooding the wpdiscuz-ajax.php endpoint with requests.
Requires timely remediation of the specific flaw in wpDiscuz versions prior to 7.6.47 by updating to the patched version that adds nonce verification, authentication, and rate limiting.
Enforces missing authentication and authorization checks on the unauthenticated wpdiscuz-ajax.php endpoint to block anonymous users from triggering mass notification emails.