VulnerabilityPublished 13 Mar 2026

CVE-2026-22204: gVectors wpDiscuz · Improper Input Validation

Affects gVectors wpDiscuzSource CVE Database V5

Compare

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.3 Medium : upgrade to 7.6.47 when convenient.

Data as of 30 Oct 2026, 11:52 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

6.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 13% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 7.6.47

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: Present
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: Low
Vulnerable system availability: None
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: Present: The successful attack depends on the presence of specific deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system that enable the attack. These include: a race condition must be won to successfully exploit the vulnerability (the successfulness of the attack is conditioned on execution conditions that are not under full control of the attacker, or the attack may need to be launched multiple times against a single target before being successful); the attacker must inject themselves into the logical network path between the target and the resource requested by the victim (e.g. vulnerabilities requiring an on-path attacker).
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: Low: Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact to the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 13 Mar 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 30 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade gVectors wpDiscuz to 7.6.47.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
gVectorswpDiscuz	Affected <7.6.47	Fixed in 7.6.47

AI-suggested

Organizations should immediately verify their wpDiscuz plugin version and upgrade to version 7.6.47 or later once available to address this vulnerability. If you cannot patch yet, administrators can implement strict input validation and sanitization on the comment_author_email cookie to reject or neutralize suspicious characters that could enable header injection (e.g., newline characters, carriage returns). Web application firewalls (WAFs) can be configured to detect and block malicious cookie payloads targeting email headers. Monitoring outgoing emails for unusual recipient patterns or unexpected headers can help identify exploitation attempts. Additionally, restricting the use of wp_mail() to trusted inputs and employing email sending libraries that automatically sanitize headers can reduce risk. Regular security audits and vulnerability scanning focused on WordPress plugins are recommended to detect similar issues proactively. Finally, educating site administrators about the risks of email header injection and maintaining timely updates of all plugins is essential.

Description

CVE-2026-22204 is an email header injection vulnerability in gVectors wpDiscuz versions before 7.6.47. The flaw arises from improper input validation of the comment_author_email cookie, which attackers can manipulate to inject malicious data. This data is processed via urldecode() and passed to wp_mail(), enabling attackers to alter email recipients or add unauthorized email headers. Exploitation does not require authentication or user interaction, and the vulnerability has a CVSS score of 6.3 (medium severity). While no known exploits are currently observed in the wild, the vulnerability could be leveraged to facilitate spam, phishing, or email-based attacks. Organizations using vulnerable wpDiscuz versions should prioritize patching once available and implement input validation controls. The threat primarily affects websites using wpDiscuz, which is popular in countries with high WordPress usage.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-22204 is the potential for attackers to manipulate email headers sent by vulnerable WordPress sites using wpDiscuz. This can enable unauthorized email recipient modification, allowing attackers to send spam or phishing emails that appear to originate from legitimate sites. Such abuse can damage organizational reputation, lead to blacklisting of mail servers, and facilitate social engineering attacks against users or customers. Although the vulnerability does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, it undermines email integrity and trustworthiness. Organizations relying on wpDiscuz for comment management may face increased risk of email-based attacks and reputational harm. Additionally, widespread exploitation could result in increased spam volume and complicate incident response. The vulnerability's ease of exploitation without authentication or user interaction increases its risk profile, especially for high-traffic websites. However, the lack of known active exploits currently limits immediate impact.

Summary

CVE-2026-22204 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting gVectors wpDiscuz versions prior to 7.6.47. The vulnerability stems from improper input validation of the comment_author_email cookie, which is used in the context of sending emails via the WordPress wp_mail() function. Specifically, attackers can craft a malicious cookie value containing email header injection payloads. When this cookie value is processed through PHP's urldecode() function and subsequently passed to wp_mail(), the injected headers can manipulate the email's recipients or add additional headers. This can lead to unauthorized email sending behaviors such as spamming, phishing, or bypassing email filters. The vulnerability requires no authentication or user interaction, making it remotely exploitable over the network. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N) indicates network attack vector, low attack complexity, partial attack traceability, no privileges required, no user interaction, no confidentiality or availability impact, and low integrity impact. No known exploits have been reported in the wild yet, but the flaw poses a risk to any WordPress site using vulnerable wpDiscuz versions. The lack of patch links suggests that a fix may be forthcoming or recently released. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input sanitization and validation when handling user-controllable data in email headers.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…

Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 20 Mar 2026, 02:34 UTC

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats