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Vulnerability · Published Jun 9, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence

CVE-2026-8499Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews <= 1.2.9 - Inccorect Authorization via Type Juggling in 'token' Parameter to Arbitrary Settings Update

Medium 5.3

In plain English

A medium-severity type confusion in Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews from helpfulcrowd. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.3% (higher than 20% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)5.3Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.3%top 80.3% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

The Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authorization Bypass via PHP Type Juggling in versions up to, and including, 1.2.9. This is due to the `helpfulcrowd_validate_token()` function using a loose comparison operator (`!=`) instead of a strict comparison (`!==`) when validating the `token` parameter, while the corresponding REST route `/wp-json/helpfulcrowd/v1/update-settings` is registered with a `permission_callback` of `__return_true`, making it reachable by unauthenticated users; submitting a JSON boolean `true` as the `token` value causes PHP's loose comparison to evaluate as equal to the non-empty base64-encoded secret string, bypassing the check entirely. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to invoke `helpfulcrowd_settings_endpoint()` and write arbitrary attacker-controlled key-value pairs directly into the `helpfulcrowd_options` WordPress database option via `update_option()` without any sanitization or allowlist filtering, enabling full unauthenticated modification of the plugin's stored configuration.

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
helpfulcrowd Helpfulcrowd Product Reviews 0 – through 1.2.9

Weakness: CWE-843 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

References