Summary
CVE-2026-86608 is a Denial of Service vulnerability in the WP Recipe Maker WordPress plugin, caused by a REST API route that lacks authorization checks and does not limit the amount of data that can be stored. The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to write unbounded data into any WordPress user’s metadata, permanently breaking that account — including administrator accounts — from loading. It affects versions 9.8.0 through 10.8.1 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.2 (High).
Technical details
- Root cause: A REST route exposed by the plugin performs no authorization/capability check and places no bound on the size or amount of data an incoming request can write.
- Trigger conditions: An attacker sends unauthenticated requests to the vulnerable REST route, targeting an arbitrary WordPress user ID.
- Attack vector: Network — no authentication and no user interaction are required (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N).
- Impact: The attacker can write unlimited/oversized data into the target user’s metadata (usermeta), which can permanently prevent that account from loading correctly — effectively a denial-of-service condition against individual accounts, including site administrators. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption); it does not affect confidentiality, and integrity impact is low, while availability impact is high.
Affected software
- WP Recipe Maker (WordPress plugin) — versions 9.8.0 through 10.8.1
Severity
- CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 8.2 (High)
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H
Mitigation and recommended actions
- Immediate: Update the WP Recipe Maker plugin to version 10.8.2 or later, which patches this issue.
- If patching is not immediately possible:
- Restrict or monitor access to the plugin’s REST API routes at the web server/WAF layer to block unauthenticated requests targeting them.
- Monitor administrator and other privileged accounts for sudden inability to log in, which may indicate exploitation has already occurred, and be prepared to restore affected user metadata from backups.
- Consider temporarily deactivating the plugin on internet-facing sites until the update can be applied.

