Unauthenticated Account Takeover in TrueBooker WordPress Plugin
The TrueBooker plugin for WordPress up to version 1.2.6 is vulnerable to an unauthenticated account takeover via a flawed AJAX handler that allows attackers to modify user email addresses.
CVE search metadata
CVE search record: CVE-2026-18315. Severity: critical. CVSS: 9.8. KEV: no. Product: TrueBooker – Appointment Booking and Scheduler System (<= 1.2.6). Brief: Unauthenticated Account Takeover in TrueBooker WordPress Plugin. Brief link: https://feed.craftedsignal.io/briefs/2026-08-truebooker-auth-bypass/
The TrueBooker - Appointment Booking and Scheduler System plugin for WordPress contains a critical authorization bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-18315) affecting all versions up to and including 1.2.6. The vulnerability resides within the 'admin_user_create_cus' AJAX handler, which fails to perform necessary authentication or capability checks.
Attackers can supply a 'truebooker_wp_user_id' parameter to the affected endpoint, which is then processed by 'wp_update_user' without verifying if the requestor has administrative privileges. By leveraging this, an unauthenticated actor can overwrite the email address associated with any user account in the WordPress database, including administrative accounts. Once the email address is updated to one controlled by the attacker, they can initiate the standard WordPress password reset process, intercept the recovery link, and gain full control over the compromised account. Defenders should identify any WordPress installations running this plugin and update to a patched version or disable the functionality immediately.
Impact
The vulnerability results in a total account takeover for any user, including site administrators. Successful exploitation leads to full unauthorized access to the WordPress environment, enabling the attacker to modify site content, inject malicious scripts, redirect traffic, or exfiltrate sensitive data. Given that this plugin is used for scheduling, the compromise could also lead to the exposure of customer personal information and booking logs. There are no observed victim counts at this time, but the exploit is trivial to execute remotely.
Recommendation
- Update the TrueBooker plugin to the latest version immediately to remediate the vulnerable AJAX handler.
- Audit WordPress user accounts for suspicious email address changes or recently created administrator accounts.
- Deploy the Sigma rule below to detect attempts to reach the vulnerable AJAX handler from external sources.
- Monitor web server logs for HTTP POST requests to 'admin-ajax.php' containing the 'admin_user_create_cus' action.
Immediate actions
Patch or disable TrueBooker plugin on all WordPress instances.
Threat Hunt
Search web logs for POST requests to admin-ajax.php containing the action admin_user_create_cus.
Data: webserver logs
Mitigations
Update TrueBooker plugin to the latest version.
CVE-2026-18315
Detection coverage 1
Detect CVE-2026-18315 Exploitation - Unauthenticated AJAX Action
criticalDetects potential exploitation of the admin_user_create_cus AJAX handler in the TrueBooker plugin.
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