# CVE-2022-4537: Hide My WP Ghost – Security Plugin <= 5.0.18 - IP Address Spoofing to Protection Mechanism Bypass

> Attackers can bypass IP-based login restrictions by spoofing the X-Forwarded-For header in the Hide My WP Ghost WordPress plugin.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 9 May 2023
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q65v-97cj-p6rh

## What is CVE-2022-4537?

CVE-2022-4537 is a medium-severity vulnerability in johndarrel WP Ghost (Hide My WP Ghost) – Security & Firewall, published on 9 May 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Hide My WP Ghost – Security Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to IP Address Spoofing in versions up to, and including, 5.0.18. This is due to insufficient restrictions on where the IP Address information is being retrieved for request logging and login restrictions. Attackers can supply the X-Forwarded-For header with with a different IP Address that will be logged and can be used to bypass settings that may have blocked out an IP address from logging in.

Weakness: CWE-345 (Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity), CWE-348 (Use of Less Trusted Source)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-4537?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Wpplugins Hide My Wp Ghost.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-4537?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-4537 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-4537 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-4537 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in johndarrel WP Ghost (Hide My WP Ghost) – Security & Firewall

- [CVE-2025-26909](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-26909/): WordPress Hide My WP Ghost plugin <= 5.4.01 - Local File Inclusion to RCE vulnerability (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2024-6420](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-6420/): Hide My WP Ghost < 5.2.02 - Hidden Login Page Disclosure (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2025-2056](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-2056/): WP Ghost <= 5.4.01 - Unauthenticated Limited File Read (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2024-10825](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-10825/): Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall <= 5.3.01 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via URL (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2024-13794](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13794/): Hide My WP Ghost – Security & Firewall <= 5.3.02 - Unauthenticated Login Page Disclosure (medium 5.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-4537 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-4537 is a medium-severity vulnerability in johndarrel WP Ghost (Hide My WP Ghost) – Security & Firewall, published on 9 May 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-4537 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: johndarrel WP Ghost (Hide My WP Ghost) – Security & Firewall. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4537/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4537/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-4537
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-4537
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-4537

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4537/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.