Unauthenticated account takeover via OTP response disclosure
Published Aug 1, 2026 · Updated Aug 1, 2026
Authentication bypass in the Authora plugin before 1.7.7 allows remote attackers to take over accounts through the mobile OTP login flow. The unauthenticated authora_login AJAX action returns the one-time code and verification nonce in JSON, and authora_verify accepts them to issue a logged-in cookie. Knowledge of a registered mobile number is enough to assume that user's privileges, including administrator access; an unregistered number instead creates a subscriber account.
Summary
What happened
Authentication bypass in the Authora plugin before 1.7.7 allows remote attackers to take over accounts through the mobile OTP login flow. The unauthenticated authora_login AJAX action returns the one-time code and verification nonce in JSON, and authora_verify accepts them to issue a logged-in cookie. Knowledge of a registered mobile number is enough to assume that user's privileges, including administrator access; an unregistered number instead creates a subscriber account.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-14561
- Published
- Aug 1, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 1, 2026
- Vendor
- authora
- Product
- Authora
- Classifications
- CWE-287, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 1, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 1, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <1.7.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- WPScan OTP disclosure and replay proof of conceptfunctional · validated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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