CVE-2026-97657
CRITICALCVE-2026-97657 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-639 vulnerability. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
The Abandoned Cart Pro for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Malleable Encryption and Bypassable HMAC in all versions up to, and including,…
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-97657 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 388,997 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
The Abandoned Cart Pro for WooCommerce plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Malleable Encryption and Bypassable HMAC in all versions up to, and including, 10.8.0. This is due to the use of MAC-free AES-CTR encryption for cart-recovery link tokens — where the 8-byte CTR nonce is carried inside the ciphertext blob and the encryption key is looked up using the attacker-supplied user_email GET parameter — combined with an HMAC nonce check in wcap_email_track_links() that is only enforced when the wcap_nonce parameter is non-empty, allowing complete bypass by omission, and an insecure direct object reference on the decrypted abandoned_id with no ownership verification confirming the cart belongs to the email used for decryption. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers who possess a single legitimate cart-recovery link (obtained from their own reminder email) to recover the keystream, forge a ciphertext that decrypts to any victim's cart ID, and trigger a call to wp_set_auth_cookie() for the victim user — achieving full account takeover of any user who has ever abandoned a cart, including administrators. The auto-login feature defaults to enabled and is forced on during plugin upgrades, meaning all affected installations are exploitable without any additional configuration.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Remediation status
No fixed release is recorded for CVE-2026-97657 yet. Track the upstream advisory, and apply the exposure-reduction steps below in the meantime.
Mitigate without a patch
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-97657 in your dependencies?
Find it across , including transitive dependencies.