9.8

CVE-2026-1490: cleantalk spam protection, honeypot, anti-spam by cleantalk

CVSS: 9.8v3.1CriticalDeferred
Published 15-02-2026Last modified 08-04-2026
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-1490 is a critical (CVSS 9.8) vulnerability in cleantalk spam protection, honeypot, anti-spam by cleantalk. EPSS estimates a 1.28% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 69.6% of scored vulnerabilities. Fixed in 6.72.

Overall risk
70/100
0100
High · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
9.8/10
010
Critical · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
1.28%
0%100%
Low · +0.10 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Timeline

  1. 15-02-2026
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 08-04-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

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.

CVSS metrics

3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version

EPSS trend

Probability

1.28%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

70%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

+0.10 pp

From 1.18% on 21-09-2026

21-09-202621-10-2026
EPSS score
1.28%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Cleantalk1 product
Wordpress1 product
  • cleantalk-spam-protect≤ 6.71 (fixed in 6.72)

2 vendors · 2 products

References

5 links