CVE-2026-85000: CWE-284 Improper Access Control in EmbedPress
Description
The EmbedPress WordPress plugin before 4.6.8 does not perform any capability or nonce check on an unauthenticated request that triggers a server-side, credential-bearing request to a third-party API and stores attacker-controlled cache entries, allowing unauthenticated attackers to consume the site owner's third-party API quota and write unbounded records into the site's database.
CVSS v3.1
Score 5.3medium
Affected software
EmbedPress
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-85000 describes an improper access control vulnerability (CWE-284) in the EmbedPress WordPress plugin prior to version 4.6.8. The plugin fails to verify capabilities or nonces on unauthenticated requests that cause the server to make credentialed requests to third-party APIs. Attackers can exploit this to consume the site owner's third-party API quota and inject unbounded cache entries into the site's database, potentially impacting site stability and resource usage.
Potential Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can abuse the vulnerability to exhaust the site owner's third-party API quota, potentially leading to service disruptions or additional costs. Additionally, the attackers can write unlimited cache entries into the site's database, which may degrade performance or cause database bloat. There is no indication of direct code execution or data leakage beyond these impacts.
Mitigation Recommendations
Upgrade EmbedPress to version 4.6.8 or later, where this vulnerability has been fixed. Since the vulnerability is due to missing capability and nonce checks, the official fix includes proper access control validation on the affected requests. No other mitigation is indicated.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- WPScan
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-02T18:25:19.475Z
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6acf22582cdf04f656513ba0
Added to database: 10/14/2026, 06:34:00 UTC
Last enriched: 10/14/2026, 07:04:19 UTC
Last updated: 10/14/2026, 19:00:33 UTC
Views: 3
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