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CVE-2026-15014 – Authentication Bypass / Account Takeover – SMS Alert WordPress Plugin ≤ 3.9.7

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Summary

CVE-2026-15014 is a critical authentication bypass vulnerability in the SMS Alert – SMS & OTP for WooCommerce, Order Notifications & Abandoned Cart Recovery WordPress plugin (vendor: Cozy Vision Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), affecting all versions up to and including 3.9.7. The flaw allows completely unauthenticated remote attackers to authenticate as any existing WordPress user — including site administrators — by abusing a logic error in the plugin’s OTP-based registration flow. It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical).

Technical details

  • Root cause: The processRegistration() function uses a session-level boolean flag ($_SESSION['sa_mobile_verified']) as the sole gate before issuing an authentication cookie via wp_set_auth_cookie(). This flag is set to true after any successful OTP verification, but it is not bound to the specific phone number that was verified — meaning a successful OTP check for an attacker-controlled number also satisfies the gate for any other number.
  • Trigger conditions: The attacker must be able to reach the plugin’s WooCommerce registration endpoint from the network. No prior account, credentials, or victim interaction is required.
  • Attack vector: An unauthenticated attacker (1) completes OTP verification for a phone number they control, setting $_SESSION['sa_mobile_verified'] to true; then (2) immediately resubmits the registration request with a victim’s billing_phone value substituted. The server looks up the WordPress account registered to that phone number and calls wp_set_auth_cookie() for that account, issuing the attacker a valid session as the victim.
  • Impact: Full authentication as any WordPress user whose phone number is known or guessable, including administrators. A successful exploit yields complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise of the WordPress site.

Affected software

  • SMS Alert – SMS & OTP for WooCommerce, Order Notifications & Abandoned Cart Recovery — all versions up to and including 3.9.7

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.8 (Critical)
  • Vector String: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate action — patch: Update the SMS Alert plugin to version 3.9.8 or later. Version 3.9.8 was released on July 27, 2026 and includes security fixes addressing this vulnerability. The update is available through the WordPress plugin repository.
  • If immediate patching is not possible: Consider temporarily deactivating the plugin to eliminate the attack surface until the update can be applied, especially on sites where admin phone numbers are potentially discoverable (e.g., published in WooCommerce order data or public contact pages).
  • Audit WordPress administrator accounts for any unexpected active sessions or newly created accounts as indicators of prior exploitation.

IONIX Status

The IONIX research team is tracking ongoing exploitation attempts and recommends immediate patching. Potentially affected assets are outlined in this post.

References

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