# CVE-2026-18961: Auth bypass in Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect

> Unauthenticated attackers can bypass authentication and gain administrative access by exploiting unverified email fields in the Spotify OAuth flow.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 12 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 12 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-m726-5v3m-hhqg

## What is CVE-2026-18961?

CVE-2026-18961 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in fahdaslam Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect, published on 12 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via Unverified Provider Email in all versions up to, and including, 1.4.3. This is due to the plugin trusting the unverified email field returned by Spotify's /v1/me endpoint as proof of mailbox ownership — Generic::normalize_common() copies this value into the normalized profile without requiring an email_verified assertion, and User_Links::link_or_login_user() subsequently passes it directly to get_user_by('email', $email) and issues a persistent authentication cookie via wp_set_auth_cookie() without a provider-specific verified-email gate, a local mailbox challenge, or a logged-in approval step. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing WordPress user, including Administrators, by supplying a known target email address through a controlled Spotify OAuth flow, gaining full administrative access to the site.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-18961?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-18961?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-18961 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-18961 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-18961 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-18961 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-18961 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in fahdaslam Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect, published on 12 Aug 2026. 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-2026-18961 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: fahdaslam Social Login, Passkeys, Magic Link & Email OTP – Passwordless Login by VentraConnect. 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-2026-18961/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-18961/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-18961
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-18961
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-18961

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-18961/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.