CVE-2026-18072

What is known

The Advanced Responsive Video Embedder for Rumble, Odysee, YouTube, Vimeo, Kick … plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass via a Hardcoded Backdoor in version 10.8.7. The vulnerability exists because the `_arve_uc_init()` function — registered on WordPress's `init` hook at priority 1 so that it runs before any authentication checks on every request — reads an attacker-supplied token from the `_wplogin` (or `_wpm`) parameter and compares it against a hardcoded SHA-256 hash embedded directly in the plugin source, with no nonce verification, no capability check, and no password validation anywhere in the flow. Because this static hash constitutes a set of universal credentials that are publicly accessible in the plugin's source code, unauthenticated attackers can supply the known token to be authenticated as an arbitrarily selected existing administrator account, gaining full administrative control over the affected WordPress site. This was likely introduced by an attacker who gained commit access to the developers account.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-18072, a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.8) affecting the affected product, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether the affected product is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
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