CVE-2026-3523 | Apocalypse Meow <= 22.1.0 - Authenticated (Administrator+) SQL Injection via 'type' Parameter

The Apocalypse Meow plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection via the 'type' parameter in all versions up to, and including, 22.1.0. This is due to a flawed logical operator in the type validation check on line 261 of ajax.php — the condition uses `&&` (AND) instead of `||` (OR), causing the `in_array()` validation to be short-circuited and never evaluated for any non-empty type value. Combined with `stripslashes_deep()` being called on line 101 which removes `wp_magic_quotes()` protection, attacker-controlled single quotes pass through unescaped into the SQL query on line 298. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Administrator-level access and above, to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database.

Published: 2026-03-05 Last update: 2026-04-22 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-3523 is rated Low Risk (25.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.05%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-3523

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-11 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
2 2026-03-05 0.04%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-3523

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
1.2 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-3523

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-3523

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-3523

URL Tags
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/tags/22.1.0/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L101
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/tags/22.1.0/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L167
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/tags/22.1.0/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L261
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/tags/22.1.0/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L298
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/trunk/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L101
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/trunk/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L167
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/trunk/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L261
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/apocalypse-meow/trunk/lib/blobfolio/wp/meow/ajax.php#L298
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3448958%40apocalypse-meow&new=3448958%40apocalypse-meow&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a1af9757-23e9-41d2-bbcd-15b0610b6538?source=cve
cvelogic Threat Intelligence