Vulnerability · Published Feb 15, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence
CVE-2026-1490Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk <= 6.71 - Authorization Bypass via Reverse DNS (PTR record) Spoofing to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Plugin Installation
Critical 9.8
In plain English
A critical-severity security flaw in Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk from cleantalk. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 1.3% (higher than 70% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official description
The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to an authorization bypass via reverse DNS (PTR record) spoofing on the 'checkWithoutToken' function in all versions up to, and including, 6.71. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to achieve remote code execution if another vulnerable plugin is installed and activated. Note: This is only exploitable on sites with an invalid API key.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| cleantalk | Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk | 0 – through 6.71 |
Weakness: CWE-350 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/cb603be6-4a12-49e1-b8cc-b2062eb97f16?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/cleantalk-spam-protect/trunk/lib/Cleantalk/ApbctWP/RemoteCalls.php#L69
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/cleantalk-spam-protect/trunk/lib/Cleantalk/Common/Helper.php#L64
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3454488/cleantalk-spam-protect#file473