Executive brief
Limit Login Attempts Reloaded is a WordPress plugin that blocks login attempts from specific usernames to prevent unauthorized access to admin accounts. A flaw in the plugin's security checks allows an attacker who already knows the password for a denylisted account to bypass the login block by using a different case variant of the username or by logging in with the account's email address instead. This defeats the administrator's intended protection without requiring any knowledge of additional credentials.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a logic flaw in the username denylist comparison mechanism. The plugin fails to perform case-insensitive comparisons when checking logins against the denylist, and does not account for authentication via the associated email address. An attacker with valid credentials for a denylisted account can bypass the block by submitting "Victimadmin" instead of "victimadmin" (single-site installations) or by submitting the account's email address (both single-site and multisite). The attack requires pre-existing knowledge of the account password, meaning it defeats the intended administrative control rather than granting unauthorized access. The flaw was patched in version 3.3.5 with case-insensitive comparison and email-based filtering logic.
Affected products
- WebFactory Ltd Limit Login Attempts Reloaded before 3.3.5
Timeline
- 2026-08-17: disclosed
- 2026-08-21: advisory
- 2026-08-21: patched: Version 3.3.5 released