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CVE-2026-89093 (GCVE-0-2026-89093)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-19 02:27 – Updated: 2026-09-19 02:27
VLAI
Title
Better Messages <= 2.15.33 - Unauthenticated Information Exposure Spoofing via 'X-Real-IP' Header via /guests/register
Summary
The Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Exposure by Spoofing in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.33. This is due to the `is_ai_bot_user()` function identifying privileged internal AI bot accounts by performing a prefix check for `'ai-chat-bot-'` against a guest record's stored IP address, which is populated verbatim from the client-controlled `X-Real-IP` request header during unauthenticated guest registration. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a guest identity that the plugin treats as its own internal AI bot, bypassing the per-room role allowlist, draft-status check, and join filters — which are all short-circuited by the bot check in `user_can_join()` and `user_can_read()` — to join administrator-restricted chat rooms, post messages into them, and read the private message history of other users.
CWE
  • CWE-287 - Improper Authentication
Impacted products
Show details on NVD website

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Better Messages \u2013 Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages \u0026 AI Chat Bots",
          "vendor": "wordplus",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "2.15.33",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "Jonah Burgess (CryptoCat)"
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
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          "value": "The Better Messages \u2013 Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages \u0026 AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Exposure by Spoofing in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.33. This is due to the `is_ai_bot_user()` function identifying privileged internal AI bot accounts by performing a prefix check for `\u0027ai-chat-bot-\u0027` against a guest record\u0027s stored IP address, which is populated verbatim from the client-controlled `X-Real-IP` request header during unauthenticated guest registration. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a guest identity that the plugin treats as its own internal AI bot, bypassing the per-room role allowlist, draft-status check, and join filters \u2014 which are all short-circuited by the bot check in `user_can_join()` and `user_can_read()` \u2014 to join administrator-restricted chat rooms, post messages into them, and read the private message history of other users."
        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "cvssV3_1": {
            "baseScore": 5.3,
            "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
            "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N",
            "version": "3.1"
          }
        }
      ],
      "problemTypes": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "cweId": "CWE-287",
              "description": "CWE-287 Improper Authentication",
              "lang": "en",
              "type": "CWE"
            }
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      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-09-19T02:27:11.997Z",
        "orgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
        "shortName": "Wordfence"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/df28ecd7-d463-48b7-95e6-8adc9f34d6bd?source=cve"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/functions.php#L4155"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/chats.php#L2145"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/chats.php#L2168"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/chats.php#L2196"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L577"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L467"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L311"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=bp-better-messages%2Ftags%2F2.15.33%2Finc%2Ffunctions.php\u0026new_path=bp-better-messages%2Ftags%2F3.0.0%2Finc%2Ffunctions.php"
        }
      ],
      "timeline": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-09-10T20:48:32.000Z",
          "value": "Vendor Notified"
        },
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "time": "2026-09-18T13:53:09.000Z",
          "value": "Disclosed"
        }
      ],
      "title": "Better Messages \u003c= 2.15.33 - Unauthenticated Information Exposure Spoofing via \u0027X-Real-IP\u0027 Header via /guests/register"
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599",
    "assignerShortName": "Wordfence",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-89093",
    "datePublished": "2026-09-19T02:27:11.997Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-10T20:32:26.852Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-09-19T02:27:11.997Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "nvd": {
      "cve": {
        "affected": [
          {
            "affectedData": [
              {
                "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                "product": "Better Messages \u2013 Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages \u0026 AI Chat Bots",
                "vendor": "wordplus",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "2.15.33",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "0",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ],
            "source": "security@wordfence.com"
          }
        ],
        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "The Better Messages \u2013 Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages \u0026 AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Exposure by Spoofing in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.33. This is due to the `is_ai_bot_user()` function identifying privileged internal AI bot accounts by performing a prefix check for `\u0027ai-chat-bot-\u0027` against a guest record\u0027s stored IP address, which is populated verbatim from the client-controlled `X-Real-IP` request header during unauthenticated guest registration. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a guest identity that the plugin treats as its own internal AI bot, bypassing the per-room role allowlist, draft-status check, and join filters \u2014 which are all short-circuited by the bot check in `user_can_join()` and `user_can_read()` \u2014 to join administrator-restricted chat rooms, post messages into them, and read the private message history of other users."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-89093",
        "lastModified": "2026-09-19T03:17:16.443",
        "metrics": {
          "cvssMetricV31": [
            {
              "cvssData": {
                "attackComplexity": "LOW",
                "attackVector": "NETWORK",
                "availabilityImpact": "NONE",
                "baseScore": 5.3,
                "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
                "confidentialityImpact": "LOW",
                "integrityImpact": "NONE",
                "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
                "scope": "UNCHANGED",
                "userInteraction": "NONE",
                "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N",
                "version": "3.1"
              },
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              "impactScore": 1.4,
              "source": "security@wordfence.com",
              "type": "Primary"
            }
          ]
        },
        "published": "2026-09-19T03:17:16.443",
        "references": [
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            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/chats.php#L2145"
          },
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            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/chats.php#L2168"
          },
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            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
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          },
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            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/functions.php#L4155"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L311"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L467"
          },
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            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/bp-better-messages/tags/2.15.33/inc/guests.php#L577"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=bp-better-messages%2Ftags%2F2.15.33%2Finc%2Ffunctions.php\u0026new_path=bp-better-messages%2Ftags%2F3.0.0%2Finc%2Ffunctions.php"
          },
          {
            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "url": "https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/df28ecd7-d463-48b7-95e6-8adc9f34d6bd?source=cve"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "security@wordfence.com",
        "vulnStatus": "Received",
        "weaknesses": [
          {
            "description": [
              {
                "lang": "en",
                "value": "CWE-287"
              }
            ],
            "source": "security@wordfence.com",
            "type": "Primary"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}



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