Wordfence Bug Bounty Program Monthly Report

In May 2026, the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program received 1095 vulnerability submissions from our growing community of security researchers working to improve the overall security posture of the WordPress ecosystem. These submissions are reviewed, triaged, and processed by the Wordfence Threat Intelligence team, with validated vulnerabilities responsibly disclosed to vendors, often through the Wordfence Vulnerability Management Portal – a free service for all WordPress vendors , and protected through the Wordfence Firewall where appropriate.

Our mission with the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program is to engage the broader security community in identifying and responsibly disclosing vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes, so we can work with vendors to get them patched before attackers discover them. This collaborative effort enables Wordfence to accelerate patch adoption, provide early protection to millions of websites, and ensure that high-quality vulnerability intelligence reaches the WordPress ecosystem as efficiently as possible. It also ensures that we are able to remediate vulnerabilities before attackers are able to discover them and start exploiting them. That is why we reward researchers for valid submissions, and why we remain committed to processing every report with transparency, accuracy, and urgency.

🔍 Join the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program

Help secure the WordPress ecosystem while earning rewards for your security research.

We’re actively seeking skilled researchers to identify vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins and themes, with prompt payments and transparent processes.

As the most comprehensive and highest-quality WordPress vulnerability program, the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program plays a critical role in helping site owners, developers, and hosting providers stay ahead of emerging threats at all stages of the open source lifecycle.

In this report, we highlight key metrics of the Bug Bounty Program from May 2026, recognize the researchers contributing to WordPress security, and provide insight into the vulnerabilities uncovered and addressed.

If you’re interested in joining the program or learning more how we responsibly manage disclosures and protect WordPress users, visit the Bug Bounty Program page.

Wordfence provides a completely free vulnerability management portal for WordPress Software vendors to easily track and manage all vulnerabilities submitted to the Wordfence Bug Bounty Program, and added to the Wordfence Intelligence Vulnerability Database.

This portal streamlines and enhances the repsonsible disclosure process so you can secure your customers faster.

📊 Program Submission Highlights – May 2026

The Wordfence Bug Bounty Program is designed for momentum: rapid triage of critical issues, clear feedback, and fast, fair rewards. Each submission moves through our standardized workflow of validation, vendor coordination, patch verification, and firewall coverage where applicable, so research translates into real-world protection quickly.

🛡️ Real-Time Protection Impact

Every vulnerability disclosed through this program is a threat you don’t have to face blindly. Our researchers uncover and report vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, and Wordfence Premium , Care and Response users get protection in real-time through our firewall. Free users are protected in 30 days.

Behind the numbers is meaningful impact for site owners. The issues surfaced here inform new firewall rules, strengthen our detection logic, and help vendors ship safer releases. If you’re new to bounty hunting, this is a great place to start: we publish scope clearly, pay promptly, and credit the work that keeps WordPress secure.

🎯 Vulnerability Focus Areas

🚨 High Threat Vulnerabilities: Issues that could result in full site compromise, such as Arbitrary File Uploads or Remote Code Execution. Must be exploitable by unauthenticated or low-level authenticated attackers with software having 25+ active installations.

⚠️ Common & Dangerous: Stored Cross-Site Scripting and SQL Injection vulnerabilities exploitable by unauthenticated or low-level authenticated attackers. Software must have 500+ active installations.

💰 Bounty Insights – May 2026

Our research powers real investment back into the community. This section totals bounties and bonuses paid for the month and showcases standout findings. Our philosophy is simple: reward high-quality, responsibly disclosed research that measurably reduces risk for WordPress users.

Total Bounties Awarded

Average Bounty Per Submission

Highest Single Bounty

Top 5 Bounties Awarded

Want to earn more? Read the scope carefully, target high-threat classes, and include clear reproduction steps with proof of impact. We pay promptly on validated issues, and bonus multipliers may apply during limited-time promotions and challenges.

🔍 WordPress Software Vulnerability Submission Insights – May 2026

This section breaks down how reports map to our program outcomes. What’s in scope, what isn’t, and where the highest security impact typically sits. We highlight the most common in-scope vulnerability classes and the categories that yielded the largest rewards so researchers can focus their efforts where they matter most.

Authentication level and exploit preconditions drive risk and reward through our program. Unauthenticated and low-privilege paths tend to have outsized impact because they scale to more real-world compromise. Use these insights to prioritize your testing strategy and maximize both security value and bounty potential.

Total Number of Vulnerabilities Considered In Scope, Out of Scope, Rejected, or Duplicate

Top 10 Most Commonly Submitted In-Scope Vulnerability Types

The most frequently submitted vulnerability types highlight current testing focus areas across the researcher community. These patterns often reflect both ease of discovery and prevalence in the WordPress ecosystem.

Top 10 Highest Rewarded In-Scope Vulnerability Types

While some vulnerabilities appear frequently, others command premium rewards. This breakdown shows which vulnerability classes generated the highest total payouts across all submissions in those categories, indicating both severity and exploitability value.

In-Scope Vulnerability Distribution by Authentication Level

Vulnerability Submission Install Count Spread

Install counts help us gauge blast radius . Higher install bases can move a finding into higher priority and often correlate with stronger payouts, while smaller-but-critical ecosystems still qualify when the exploitability and impact warrant it.

🌟Top WordPress Security Researchers – May 2026

Security is a team sport, and this leaderboard celebrates the people raising the bar. We recognize contributors by valid in-scope submissions, overall earnings, and average severity to highlight different paths to excellence.

Top 5 Researchers based on Volume of In-Scope Submissions

Volume leaders demonstrate consistent vulnerability discovery across diverse targets. These researchers excel at systematic testing and maintaining high validation rates.

Top 5 Researchers Based on Average CVSS of In-Scope Submissions

Quality over quantity defines these researchers who consistently identify high-severity vulnerabilities. Their average CVSS scores reflect expertise in finding critical security gaps.

Top 5 Researchers Based On Total Bounties Earned

Combining volume with severity, these top earners maximized their impact and rewards through strategic vulnerability research and comprehensive reporting.

Researchers to the Tier

Congratulations to the following researchers who have unlocked the tier! Tier promotions reflect sustained performance, precision, and professionalism in disclosure. Advancing unlocks higher caps, faster reviews, and more visibility. If you’re climbing the ranks, focus on high risk vulnerabilities, keep reports crisp, attach working PoCs, and include mitigation notes vendors can ship quickly.

Elite Researcher Tier (1337)

Resourceful Researcher Tier

📣 Current WordPress Bug Bounty Program Promotions

As part of our Bug Bounty Program, we regularly launch special promotions that boost bounty rewards and expand research scope. These initiatives are designed to reinforce our mission: delivering the highest quality vulnerability intelligence while encouraging researchers to focus on the discoveries that have the greatest positive impact on the WordPress ecosystem.

At the same time, we also look for promotions that give researchers opportunities to sharpen their skills, take on new challenges, and continue growing into the best of the best in WordPress security research. We often supplement these with educational material for researchers to learn and apply their skills during these promotions.

Below, you’ll find details on all currently active challenges—including timelines and a quick overview of each promotion.

New to promotions? Start by confirming the software and version range are in scope, validate exploitability on a clean test environment, and submit with clear steps, affected code paths, and impact. Promotions are perfect opportunities for both new and seasoned researchers to maximize earnings while driving faster patch adoption. And remember, you can always check what’s in-scope and out-of-scope by using the Wordfence bounty estimator .

🔦 Critical WordPress Software Vulnerability Highlights – May 2026

These case studies spotlight high-impact vulnerabilities uncovered through the program, why they matter, and how quickly protection rolled out. We technical detail to help researchers learn, vendors harden code, and users understand why timely updates aren’t optional.

If you maintain a site, update to the patched versions listed and ensure Wordfence is active so you benefit from new firewall coverage as it ships. If you’re a researcher, use these write-ups to inform your hunt: patterns repeat, and past root causes often reappear in adjacent code.

🚨 1,000,000 WordPress Sites Affected by Arbitrary File Read and SQL Injection Vulnerabilities in Avada Builder WordPress Plugin

🚨 200,000 WordPress Sites at Risk from Critical Authentication Bypass Vulnerability in Burst Statistics Plugin

Burst Statistics 3.4.0 – 3.4.1.1 – Authentication Bypass to Admin Account Takeover

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.

🚨 Attackers Actively Exploiting Critical Vulnerability in Breeze Cache Plugin

Breeze Cache <= 2.4.4 – Unauthenticated Arbitrary File Upload via fetch_gravatar_from_remote

The Breeze Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to missing file type validation in the ‘fetch_gravatar_from_remote’ function in all versions up to, and including, 2.4.4. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files on the affected site’s server which may make remote code execution possible. The vulnerability can only be exploited if “Host Files Locally – Gravatars” is enabled, which is disabled by default.

🚨 Authenticated Arbitrary File Upload Vulnerability Patched in Slider Revolution 7 WordPress Plugin

🚨 15,000 WordPress Sites Affected by Administrator Account Creation Vulnerability in WP Maps Pro WordPress Plugin

WP Maps Pro <= 6.1.0 – Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation via Administrator Account Creation to wpgmp_temp_access_ajax AJAX Action

The WP Maps Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Administrator Account Creation in all versions up to, and including, 6.1.0. This is due to the wpgmp_temp_access_ajax AJAX action being registered with wp_ajax_nopriv_ and protected only by a nonce check using the fc-call-nonce nonce, which is publicly embedded into every frontend page via wp_localize_script as the nonce field of the wpgmp_local JavaScript object, rendering the check ineffective as an access control mechanism. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to invoke the wpgmp_temp_access_support handler with check_temp=false, which unconditionally creates a new WordPress user with the hardcoded role of administrator via wp_insert_user() and returns a magic login URL that, when visited, calls wp_set_auth_cookie() to fully authenticate the attacker as the newly created administrator, resulting in complete site takeover.

WordPress thrives when researchers, vendors, hosts, and site owners pull in the same direction. By funding high-quality research, coordinating responsible disclosure, and shipping firewall rules at scale, Wordfence turns findings into protection for millions of sites.

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