Various Newfold Plugins Various Versions - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via Bearer Token Validation with Empty Secret

Summary

Several Newfold plugins are vulnerable to Authentication Bypass. The vulnerability exists because the plugins bundle the wp-module-data module. In the module, the `authenticate()` method — registered on the `rest_authentication_errors` filter and therefore evaluated for every unauthenticated REST API request — performs an HMAC-style Bearer token comparison that degenerates when `HiiveConnection::get_auth_token()` returns `false`: PHP coerces `strrev(false)` to `strrev('')`, collapsing the secret salt to the publicly known constant `hash('sha256', '') = e3b0c44...`, while all remaining hash inputs (HTTP method, request URL, raw request body, and the `X-Timestamp` header) remain fully attacker-controlled. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to compute a valid Bearer token entirely offline, pass the token equality check, and have `wp_set_current_user()` invoked against the first administrator returned by `get_users(['role' => 'administrator'])`, granting full administrator-level access and enabling arbitrary REST API operations such as creating new administrator accounts and achieving complete site takeover. Vulnerable versions are WP Plugin Crazy Domains (<= 2.5.2), WP Plugin Web (<= 2.3.4), WP Plugin Hostgator (<= 3.1.0), WP Plugin Bluehost (<= 4.17.1). The affected module is vulnerable in versions up to, and including, 2.9.4.

Timeline

1. Sep 9, 2026, 8:28 AM UTCCVE published
2. Sep 9, 2026, 3:41 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total

3. Sep 9, 2026, 4:02 PM UTCRecord last updated

Affected versions

• Newfold WP Plugin Web

  through 2.3.5

• Newfold WP Plugin Crazy Domains

  through 2.5.2

• Newfold WP Module Data

  through 2.9.7

• Newfold WP Plugin Hostgator

  through 3.2.0

• Newfold WP Plugin Bluehost

  through 4.19.0

References 13