# CVE-2026-89093: Better Messages <= 2.15.33 - Unauthenticated Information Exposure Spoofing via 'X-Real-IP' Header via /guests/register

> Unauthenticated attackers can spoof IP headers to impersonate AI bots, bypassing access controls to read and post in restricted chat rooms.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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:** 19 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-53vp-fjc5-cqj6

## What is CVE-2026-89093?

CVE-2026-89093 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in wordplus Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots, published on 19 Sep 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Exposure by Spoofing in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.33. This is due to the `is_ai_bot_user()` function identifying privileged internal AI bot accounts by performing a prefix check for `'ai-chat-bot-'` against a guest record's stored IP address, which is populated verbatim from the client-controlled `X-Real-IP` request header during unauthenticated guest registration. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register a guest identity that the plugin treats as its own internal AI bot, bypassing the per-room role allowlist, draft-status check, and join filters — which are all short-circuited by the bot check in `user_can_join()` and `user_can_read()` — to join administrator-restricted chat rooms, post messages into them, and read the private message history of other users.

Weakness: CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-89093?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-89093?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-89093 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-89093 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89093 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-89093 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-89093 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in wordplus Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots, published on 19 Sep 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-2026-89093 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: wordplus Better Messages – Chat Rooms, Group Chat, Private Messages & AI Chat Bots. 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-2026-89093/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89093/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-89093
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-89093
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-89093

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-89093/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.