CVE-2026-2471
Published: 28 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-2471 is a high-severity Deserialization of Untrusted Data (CWE-502) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 22.1th 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 CM-11 (User-installed Software) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-2471 is a PHP Object Injection vulnerability (CWE-502) affecting the WP Mail Logging plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 1.15.0. The issue arises in the BaseModel class constructor, which calls maybe_unserialize() on all properties retrieved from the database without validation, specifically via deserialization of untrusted input from the email log message field. This flaw enables the injection of arbitrary PHP objects when malicious data is logged from emails.
Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability by submitting a double-serialized payload through any public-facing form that sends email, such as Contact Form 7. The payload is logged and then deserialized into an arbitrary PHP object when an administrator views the email log. While no known Property-Oriented Programming (POP) chain exists in the WP Mail Logging plugin itself—resulting in no direct impact—exploitation requires another plugin or theme on the target site to provide a POP chain, potentially allowing actions like deleting arbitrary files, retrieving sensitive data, or executing code. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), reflecting high privileges required for impact due to admin interaction.
References include source code locations in the plugin's BaseModel.php, WPML_MailRenderer_AJAX_Handler.php, and WPML_Plugin.php files, as well as a WordPress plugin trac changeset comparing revisions (old: 3358334, new: 3464813) that likely documents the fix, and Wordfence threat intelligence detailing the vulnerability. No explicit patch version or mitigation steps are specified beyond these code changes.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-9100
Vulnerability details
The WP Mail Logging plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 1.15.0 via deserialization of untrusted input from the email log message field. This is due to the `BaseModel` class constructor…
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calling `maybe_unserialize()` on all properties retrieved from the database without validation. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object by submitting a double-serialized payload through any public-facing form that sends email (e.g., Contact Form 7). When the email is logged and subsequently viewed by an administrator, the malicious payload is deserialized into an arbitrary PHP object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
CVE enables T1190 via unauthenticated submission to public-facing WordPress forms triggering server-side deserialization; facilitates T1059.004 (Unix Shell) and T1505.003 (Web Shell) when a POP chain from another component achieves arbitrary code execution or file operations.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly remediates the PHP Object Injection vulnerability by patching the unsafe deserialization in the WP Mail Logging plugin's BaseModel class.
Validates untrusted inputs from public-facing forms like Contact Form 7 to block injection of double-serialized malicious payloads into email logs.
Prevents installation of the vulnerable WP Mail Logging plugin and other plugins or themes that provide exploitable POP chains.