CVE-2026-16055: unknown contest gallery Improper Authentication
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2026-16055 is a high (CVSS 7.5) Improper Authentication vulnerability in unknown contest gallery. EPSS estimates a 0.42% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 34.7% of scored vulnerabilities. 1 public exploit is recorded. Fixed in 30.0.7.
Timeline
- 05-08-2026PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 05-08-2026Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
The Contest Gallery WordPress plugin before 30.0.7 does not route its front-end login through the standard WordPress authentication flow, issuing an authentication cookie directly after the password check, which bypasses installed brute-force-protection and two-factor-authentication Contest Gallery WordPress plugin before 30.0.7 and enables unlimited, unthrottled password guessing against any account (including administrators) up to full account takeover.
CVSS metrics
3 scores · 3 sources · 1 version- NVDNIST7.5HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- wordfenceSource5.3MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:NDiffers
EPSS trend
Probability
0.42%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
35%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
+0.11 pp
From 0.30% on 19-09-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.
Public exploits
1 foundExploit Reference (wpscan.com)
Maturity: unknown
Weaknesses
CWE · root cause- CWE-287Improper AuthenticationWhen an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.
- CWE-693Protection Mechanism FailureThe product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.
Affected systems
Unknown1 product
- contest gallery< 30.0.7
Wordpress1 product
- contest-gallery≤ 30.0.6 (fixed in 30.0.7)
2 vendors · 2 products