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Ajax Bootmodal LoginApplication · Ajax Bootmodal Login Project

CVE-2018-15876

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-08-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in the ajax-bootmodal-login plugin 1.4.3 for WordPress. The register form, login form, and password-recovery form require solving a CAPTCHA to perform actions. However, this is required only once per user session, and therefore one could send as many requests as one wished by automation.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The ajax-bootmodal-login WordPress plugin (v1.4.3) has a design flaw where CAPTCHA validation occurs only once per user session rather than on every form submission. After a user solves the CAPTCHA for login, registration, or password recovery, subsequent automated requests bypass the CAPTCHA check entirely. This enables unlimited brute-force attacks on credentials, mass account registration, and password-reset abuse.

MitigationImplement per-request CAPTCHA validation for all form submissions (login, register, password recovery) rather than session-based validation. The CAPTCHA challenge and its verification must occur on every POST request to prevent automated abuse.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ajax Bootmodal LoginApplication
Affected:= 1.4.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the ajax-bootmodal-login plugin installation
    Check the WordPress plugins directory (wp-content/plugins/) for a folder named 'ajax-bootmodal-login' or 'ajax-bootmodal-login-wordpress-plugin'. If using WP-CLI, run: wp plugin list --search=ajax-bootmodal-login
    Affected if The plugin directory or listing shows the plugin is installed
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    Open the main plugin file (usually ajax-bootmodal-login.php) and look at the plugin header comment which contains 'Version: x.x.x'. Alternatively, check the WordPress admin Plugins page where the version is displayed under the plugin name
    Affected if The version displayed is 1.4.3 exactly
  3. Verify CAPTCHA functionality is enabled
    Log into WordPress admin and navigate to Settings > Ajax Bootmodal Login (or similar plugin settings page). Look for CAPTCHA settings under login, registration, or password recovery forms. Check if CAPTCHA is toggled ON or enabled for any of these features
    Affected if CAPTCHA is enabled and configured for login, registration, or password recovery forms
  4. Confirm the session-based CAPTCHA behavior
    This requires code review: examine the plugin PHP files for CAPTCHA validation logic. Look for sessions or transients storing CAPTCHA state. The vulnerability exists if CAPTCHA verification sets a session flag that persists for the entire session rather than being validated on each POST request
    Affected if CAPTCHA validation relies on session state rather than per-request validation

You are affected if the ajax-bootmodal-login plugin is installed at version 1.4.3 and CAPTCHA is enabled for any form, since the flaw allows bypass after the first valid CAPTCHA per session

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement per-request CAPTCHA validation for all form submissions (login, register, password recovery) rather than session-based validation. The CAPTCHA challenge and its verification must occur on every POST request to prevent automated abuse.

Fix this in Ajax Bootmodal Login Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-15876 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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