Optional Email: Privilege escalation or authentication bypass
Optional Email is affected by privilege escalation or authentication bypass. The vulnerable path is reachable without authentication. A successful request can grant permissions or access that the caller should not possess.
- Component
- Optional Email
- Plugin slug
optional-email- Affected
- See vendor advisory
- Safe version
- See mitigation notes
- Published
- Jan 07, 2026
This CVE was published Jan 07, 2026 and is one of 1 known issue for this plugin.
Update, patch or deactivate.
Update Optional Email to a release outside the affected range, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.
No confirmed safe version is listed. Consider a vendor-supported patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality while you assess the risk.
Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.
Technical description
The Optional Email plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 1.3.11. This is due to the plugin not restricting its 'random_password' filter to registration contexts, allowing the filter to affect password reset key generation. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to set a known password reset key when initiating a password reset, reset the password of any user including administrators, and gain access to their accounts.
CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H