CVE-2026-24985: WP Forms Signature Add-On Auth Bypass

CVE-2026-24985 Overview

A Missing Authorization vulnerability has been identified in the approveme WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On plugin for WordPress. This broken access control flaw allows authenticated attackers with low-level privileges to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels, potentially enabling unauthorized actions within the plugin's functionality.

Critical Impact

Authenticated attackers can bypass authorization checks to dismiss admin notices without proper permission, potentially masking important security warnings or plugin notifications from administrators.

Affected Products

• WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On versions up to and including 1.8.2
• WordPress installations with the wp-forms-signature-contract-add-on plugin installed

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-03 - CVE CVE-2026-24985 published to NVD
• 2026-02-03 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-24985

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from a failure to implement proper authorization checks within the WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On plugin. The plugin lacks capability verification before allowing certain administrative actions, specifically related to notice dismissal functionality. An authenticated user with minimal privileges (such as a subscriber role) can perform actions that should be restricted to administrators.

The vulnerability is classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), which occurs when a software application does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. In WordPress plugins, this typically manifests when AJAX handlers or other endpoints fail to verify that the requesting user has the appropriate capabilities before executing privileged operations.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability is the absence of proper capability checks in the plugin's code paths that handle notice dismissal. WordPress provides functions like current_user_can() to verify user permissions, but the vulnerable code path fails to implement these checks before processing requests. This allows any authenticated user to trigger functionality that should be restricted to users with administrative capabilities.

Attack Vector

The attack requires network access and authenticated access to the WordPress installation. An attacker with a low-privileged account (such as subscriber or contributor) can send crafted requests to the vulnerable endpoint. The attack does not require user interaction and can be executed directly by the attacker.

The exploitation involves sending requests to dismiss administrative notices without possessing the required administrative privileges. While the direct impact is limited to integrity concerns (unauthorized modification of notice states), this could be leveraged to hide security warnings or important administrative notifications from legitimate administrators.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-24985

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected dismissal of admin notices in the WordPress dashboard
• AJAX requests to plugin endpoints from low-privileged user accounts
• Audit logs showing notice dismissal actions from non-administrator users
• Unusual POST requests targeting the wp-forms-signature-contract-add-on plugin endpoints

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress AJAX request logs for suspicious activity from low-privileged users
• Implement logging for all administrative action endpoints within WordPress plugins
• Use WordPress security plugins that track capability-based access violations
• Review user activity logs for actions that exceed assigned role permissions

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive WordPress audit logging to track all user actions
• Configure alerts for administrative actions performed by non-administrator users
• Regularly review plugin-specific endpoints for unauthorized access attempts
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect broken access control patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-24985

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On plugin to a patched version (if available)
• Temporarily disable the plugin if no patch is available and functionality is not critical
• Review user accounts and remove unnecessary subscriber or contributor accounts
• Audit recent activity to identify any potential exploitation attempts

Patch Information

Organizations should check for an updated version of the WP Forms Signature Contract Add-On plugin that addresses this vulnerability. Monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for updates on patch availability. The vulnerability affects all versions from the initial release through 1.8.2.

Workarounds

• Restrict user registration on the WordPress site to prevent unauthorized account creation
• Implement additional access control using a WordPress security plugin
• Use a Web Application Firewall to filter requests to vulnerable endpoints
• Limit authenticated user capabilities using role management plugins

# WordPress CLI command to list users with subscriber role for audit
wp user list --role=subscriber --format=table

# Check currently installed plugin version
wp plugin list --name=wp-forms-signature-contract-add-on --format=table

# Temporarily deactivate the plugin if needed
wp plugin deactivate wp-forms-signature-contract-add-on