CVE-2026-15988
HIGH · 8.8Fresh advisory, vendor patch released same day, high install base, but no wild PoC or in-the-wild reports yet.
What: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in AI Engine WordPress plugin (versions ≤3.6.5) enabling unauthenticated attackers to create administrator accounts via admin-click social engineering. CVSS 8.8 HIGH.
Why it matters: Plugin deployed on 100,000+ WordPress sites; flaw requires no attacker account, only admin click on malicious link; allows full account takeover. Published today with patched version 3.6.6 available. No KEV listing yet but high-impact scope drives immediate patch urgency.
Where it's seen: Bluesky posts echoing NVD advisory within 2 hours of publication; plugin vendor patching actively signaled; chatter emphasizes scale (100k+ sites) and ease of exploitation (social engineering + method override).
RISK: CRITICAL — Unauthenticated admin account creation on 100k+ WordPress sites via CSRF; trivial user-click prerequisite.
Description
The AI Engine – The Chatbot, AI Framework & MCP for WordPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 3.6.5 This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the reauth_for_authorize function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create new administrator accounts with attacker-supplied credentials via a CSRF-based REST authentication bypass, granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link. This bypass can be combined with WordPress's ?_method=POST method-override support to convert a top-navigation GET request into an authenticated POST to the REST users endpoint, requiring no existing account on the attacker's part.
CVSS 3.1 breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Weaknesses
References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.6.2/labs/mcp-oauth.php#L120
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.6.2/labs/mcp-oauth.php#L121
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.6.2/labs/mcp-oauth.php#L127
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ai-engine/tags/3.6.2/labs/mcp-oauth.php#L49
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3628188/ai-engine/trunk/labs/mcp-oauth.php
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Fai-engine/tags/3.6.5&new_path=%2Fai-engine/tags/3.6.6
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/45816c45-42bc-4163-b700-a1e913f32c97?source=cve