Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-85984 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 49% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-87786
Vulnerability Data
The miniOrange OTP Login, Verification and SMS Notifications plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via the mo_wp_login_intent parameter in all versions up to, and including, 5.5.5. This is due to a missing password-intent guard in the skip_pass_fallback-enabled configuration…
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branch of the mo_by_pass_login() function, which treats administrator role membership alone as sufficient authentication whenever the unauthenticated, unverified POST parameter mo_wp_login_intent is submitted with the value otp, causing mo_get_user() to skip wp_authenticate_username_password() and resolve a WP_User purely from a username lookup. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing administrator account by supplying only a known username and an empty password alongside mo_wp_login_intent=otp, with no password or OTP verification required. Exploitation is conditional on a site administrator having simultaneously enabled the following plugin options: WP Login OTP, Login with Only OTP, Allow Users to Login with Username and Password, and Admin OTP Bypass.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces access only after approved authorizations, which presupposes correct authentication has occurred.
Mandates unique identification and authentication of organizational users before access, directly stopping improper authentication.
Requires unique identification and authentication of devices before establishing connections, preventing unauthenticated device claims.
Manages authenticators with verification and secure distribution, reducing opportunities for improper authentication.
Mandates unique identification and authentication of non-organizational users, directly addressing the weakness for external actors.
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.5.17 directly mandates generation of non-guessable unique secrets, secure transmission, immediate change of defaults/temporary creds, strong password enforcement, no-reuse, and compromise response, which stops most improper-authentication exploits at source; the bounded remainder is non-password authentication methods and sufficiency-of-proof cases (e.g. IA-2/IA-5 enhancements) left to other controls.
A.8.5 directly mandates appropriate-strength authentication techniques, MFA for critical systems, protected log-on procedures, brute-force resistance, no cleartext passwords/transmission, and session controls that stop exploitation of insufficient proof of identity; the bounded remainder is cases where the chosen technique itself is flawed or insufficiently implemented (e.g. weak biometrics without fallback).
Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.