CVE-2026-4409
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 · uneditedThe Subscribe To Comments Reloaded plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to a leaked secret key and usage of a weak hash generation algorithm in all versions up to, and including, 240119. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to extract the global key from any public post page, forge authorization keys and manage comment subscription preferences for arbitrary users
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 confidenceThe Subscribe To Comments Reloaded WordPress plugin up to version 240119 contains a leaked secret key embedded in the code and uses a weak hash generation algorithm. Attackers can extract this global key from any public post page source, then use it to forge authorization keys and modify comment subscription preferences for any user without authentication.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Subscribe To Comments Reloaded plugin installationAccess your WordPress admin dashboard, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins, and locate 'Subscribe To Comments Reloaded' in the list. Note the version number displayed under the plugin name.Affected if The plugin is installed with version 240119 or earlier
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Confirm plugin is activeIn the same Plugins screen, check whether the 'Subscribe To Comments Reloaded' plugin has an 'Active' status or a deactivate link.Affected if The plugin is active and running in production
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Inspect public post page source for leaked keyVisit any public post on your WordPress site that has comment subscription enabled. View the page source (right-click > View Page Source or Ctrl+U) and search for terms like 'stcr', 'subscribe', 'key', 'secret', or 'auth' to locate any embedded secret or authorization key in the HTML.Affected if A secret key, auth token, or subscription signature is visible in plain text within the page source
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Check plugin settings for weak hash configurationNavigate to Subscribe To Comments Reloaded > Settings in the WordPress admin. Look for any options related to hash generation, security keys, or subscription management that may indicate weak cryptographic implementation.Affected if Settings expose weak hash algorithms or allow unsigned subscription modifications
You are affected if the plugin version is 240119 or earlier AND it is active on your site, with a secret key visible in public page source code.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpdate the plugin to the latest patched version once available, and rotate any secrets or keys that may have been exposed. Audit user subscription settings for unauthorized changes.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-4409 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-4409 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data