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TI-2026-65998 Aliases CVE-2026-97637GHSA-pmrp-gw7x-5x4r

JSON API Auth <= 3.1.2 - Unauthenticated Authentication Bypass via Cached 'generate_auth_cookie' Response

Priority MEDIUM 50CWE-287Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Security bypass
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-287.

Summary

The JSON API Auth plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Cached Session Cookie Disclosure in all versions up to, and including, 3.1.2. The vulnerability exists because the required PI-Media/json-api parent plugin caches controller dispatch results in transients keyed solely by URI and query string, ignoring HTTP method and POST body; this causes the `generate_auth_cookie()` endpoint — which embeds a live WordPress `logged_in` cookie produced by `wp_generate_auth_cookie()` directly in its JSON response body — to serve that cached authenticated response to any subsequent unauthenticated GET request to the same URI. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to retrieve a valid Administrator `logged_in` session cookie from the cached response and use it to fully authenticate as the site Administrator, including via the same plugin's `get_currentuserinfo` endpoint and any cookie-authenticated controller action. Exploitation requires the PI-Media/json-api parent plugin to be installed and active with the Auth controller enabled, and a legitimate Administrator must have POSTed to `/api/auth/generate_auth_cookie/` within the preceding 24-hour cache TTL; the nominal HTTPS enforcement gate present in `Auth.php` is trivially bypassed by supplying `insecure=cool` as a request parameter.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00636 50th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
parorreyJSON API Authup to 3.1.2—No fix listedCNA
  • JSON API Auth Vendorparorrey Affected up to 3.1.2 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-97637
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-pmrp-gw7x-5x4r
  3. 2026-10-03 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  4. 2026-10-25 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile

References

  • TI-2024-06142 JSON API User <= 3.9.3 - Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-08455 JSON API User <= 4.1.0 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'content' Parameter CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.4

Sources