CVE-2026-2025: Mail Mint Plugin Information Disclosure

CVE-2026-2025 Overview

CVE-2026-2025 is a high-severity authorization bypass vulnerability affecting the Mail Mint WordPress plugin versions prior to 1.19.5. The vulnerability exists due to missing authorization checks in one of the plugin's REST API endpoints, allowing unauthenticated attackers to retrieve email addresses of users registered on the WordPress site.

This information disclosure vulnerability poses a significant risk to user privacy and could enable further attacks such as targeted phishing campaigns, spam, and credential stuffing attacks against exposed email addresses.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can harvest user email addresses from affected WordPress sites without any authentication, leading to potential privacy violations, spam campaigns, and targeted phishing attacks.

Affected Products

• Mail Mint WordPress plugin versions prior to 1.19.5

Discovery Timeline

• March 4, 2026 - CVE-2026-2025 published to NVD
• March 4, 2026 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-2025

Vulnerability Analysis

The Mail Mint WordPress plugin is an email marketing automation tool that provides functionality for managing subscribers and email campaigns. The vulnerability stems from a missing authorization check (CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) in one of the plugin's REST API endpoints.

WordPress REST API endpoints should implement proper permission callbacks to verify that the requesting user has appropriate privileges before returning sensitive data. In vulnerable versions of Mail Mint, at least one endpoint fails to implement these authorization checks, exposing user email addresses to any unauthenticated requester.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability means attackers can exploit it remotely without requiring any privileges or user interaction. While the vulnerability only impacts confidentiality (data disclosure), the exposed email addresses can serve as the foundation for subsequent attack phases.

Root Cause

The vulnerability is caused by an improperly secured REST API endpoint that lacks authorization verification. WordPress REST API routes should use the permission_callback parameter to ensure only authorized users can access protected resources. The affected endpoint in Mail Mint prior to version 1.19.5 either omits this callback entirely or implements it incorrectly, allowing any unauthenticated request to retrieve user email data.

Attack Vector

An attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted HTTP requests directly to the vulnerable REST API endpoint. Since no authentication is required, the attacker simply needs to identify the endpoint path and send a properly formatted request to retrieve email addresses stored in the WordPress database.

The attack can be performed remotely over the network, requires low complexity, and needs no privileges or user interaction. Exploitation results in disclosure of user email addresses, which attackers can use for:

• Targeted phishing campaigns against site users
• Spam email distribution
• Credential stuffing attacks using leaked email/password databases
• Social engineering attacks
• Selling harvested emails on dark web marketplaces

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-2025

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual volume of requests to Mail Mint REST API endpoints from unknown IP addresses
• Access logs showing unauthenticated GET requests to /wp-json/mail-mint/ or similar plugin API paths
• Multiple rapid sequential API requests attempting to enumerate user data
• Requests originating from known malicious IP ranges or automated scanning tools

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress access logs for unauthenticated requests to Mail Mint REST API endpoints
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and alert on suspicious API enumeration patterns
• Use WordPress security plugins that can detect and log unauthorized REST API access attempts
• Review server logs for requests with unusual user agents or request patterns targeting plugin endpoints

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable detailed logging for all REST API requests in WordPress
• Set up alerting for high-frequency requests to plugin API endpoints from single IP addresses
• Monitor for data exfiltration patterns in outbound traffic analysis
• Regularly audit installed plugin versions against known vulnerability databases

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-2025

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Mail Mint plugin to version 1.19.5 or later immediately
• Review access logs for evidence of prior exploitation attempts
• If exploitation is suspected, notify affected users whose email addresses may have been compromised
• Consider temporarily disabling the Mail Mint plugin until patching is completed
• Implement a Web Application Firewall to filter malicious requests

Patch Information

The vulnerability has been addressed in Mail Mint version 1.19.5. Site administrators should update to this version or later through the WordPress plugin update mechanism. Additional details can be found in the WPScan Vulnerability Report.

Workarounds

• If immediate patching is not possible, temporarily disable the Mail Mint plugin until the update can be applied
• Implement IP-based access controls to restrict REST API access to trusted networks only
• Use a Web Application Firewall with rules to block unauthorized API access attempts
• Consider implementing additional authentication layers at the web server level for plugin API endpoints

# WordPress CLI command to update Mail Mint plugin
wp plugin update mailmint --version=1.19.5

# Verify current plugin version
wp plugin list --name=mailmint --fields=name,version,status

# Alternative: Temporarily disable plugin if patching is delayed
wp plugin deactivate mailmint