CVE-2026-8181

The Burst Statistics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative) plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Authentication Bypass in versions 3.4.0 to 3.4.1.1. This is due to incorrect return-value handling in the `is_mainwp_authenticated()` function when validating application passwords from the Authorization header. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers, with knowledge of an administrator username, to impersonate that administrator for the duration of the request by supplying any random Basic Authentication password achieving privilege escalation.

CVSS: 9.8Criticalscored by the publisher (CNA)
Exploited in the wild: Not knownUnvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub; not in CISA KEV
EPSS: 14.6%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 4% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Not stated by the vendorno fixed release in the CVE record
Published: 14 May 2026analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: At runtime
Attack vector: network
Weakness: CWE-287 Improper Authentication
Can a WAF block it?: No. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Product	Affected versions	Vendor says fixed in
burstbv Burst Statistics – Privacy-Friendly WordPress Analytics (Google Analytics Alternative)	>= 3.4.0 and <= 3.4.1.1Vendor says fixed in: not stated	Not stated by the vendor

As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? No. Authentication bypass is a flaw in the application's logic. The attack requests look like normal traffic, so a WAF has nothing to match on.

Also consider: patch · add auth middleware

Based on the weakness type only; no CVE-specific evidence yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Not listed as of our last sync.
Public exploit code: Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 12 GitHub proofs of concept · 1 Nuclei template
CISA SSVC: exploitation none, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 14 May 2026 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Nuclei

WordPress Burst Statistics 3.4.0-3.4.1.1 - Authentication Bypassdetection template, critical

GitHub proofs of concept

and 8 more repositories

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

14 May 2026First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted)
14 May 2026Publishedsame day later
14 May 2026CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation nonesame day later
14 May 2026CVE record last updatedsame day later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com182 days (about 6 months) later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2026-8181 being exploited?

Not confirmed. CVE-2026-8181 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 15% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How severe is CVE-2026-8181?

CVE-2026-8181 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2026-8181?

Not known from our data. No patch reference has been recorded for CVE-2026-8181, which is not the same as no patch existing — a fix may have shipped without a tagged reference, or after this record was written. The vendor advisory is the only authority on whether a fix exists, and mitigations may be available regardless.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

10 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Nuclei templates: detection templates
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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