Spam protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam by CleanTalk <= 6.71 - Authorization Bypass via Reverse DNS (PTR record) Spoofing to Unauthenticated Arbitrary Plugin Installation
| CVE | CVE-2026-1490 |
|---|---|
| CVSS | 9.8 (Critical) |
| Publicly Published | February 14, 2026 |
| Last Updated | February 15, 2026 |
| Researcher |
Nguyen Ngoc Duc (duc193)
|
Description
The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to an authorization bypass via reverse DNS (PTR record) spoofing on the 'checkWithoutToken' function in all versions up to, and including, 6.71. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to achieve remote code execution if another vulnerable plugin is installed and activated. Note: This is only exploitable on sites with an invalid API key.
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Vulnerability Details for CleanTalk Anti-Spam. Spam Firewall & Bot protection
| Software Type | Plugin |
|---|---|
| Software Slug | cleantalk-spam-protect (view on wordpress.org) |
| Patched? | Yes |
| Remediation | Update to version 6.72, or a newer patched version |
| Affected Version |
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| Patched Version |
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Recent vulnerabilities in CleanTalk Anti-Spam. Spam Firewall & Bot protection
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