# Link Whisper Free <= 0.9.7 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Missing Authorization to Broken Link Scan, Link Ignore List and Plugin Option Updates

- **ID:** WPSEC-2026-0864
- **Plugin:** Link Whisper Free (`link-whisper`), https://wordpress.org/plugins/link-whisper/
- **Affected versions:** all versions before 0.9.8
- **Fixed in:** 0.9.8 (Update to 0.9.8 or later.)
- **Severity:** Medium 4.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N)
- **Weakness:** CWE-862
- **Usage among sites WPSec scans:** plugin Medium, affected versions Medium (as of 2026-10-13)
- **Attack surface analysis:** https://attacksurface.wpsec.com/plugin/link-whisper
- **Fix released:** 2026-10-13
- **Published:** 2026-10-14
- **URL:** https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0864/

## Description

The Link Whisper Free plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data because several AJAX actions (wpil_error_process, wpil_add_link_to_ignore, wpil_clear_process_tracker, wpil_has_run_wizard, wpil_wizard_set_completion_flag and wpil_update_expanded_details_toggle) are missing capability checks in all versions up to, and including, 0.9.7. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to start broken link scans, add posts to the plugin's link ignore list, and change the plugin's wizard and display state.

## References

- https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0864/
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/link-whisper/tags/0.9.8/
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/link-whisper/

Source: WPSec, https://wpsec.com/vuln/WPSEC-2026-0864/

License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Free to use, share and adapt, also commercially, if you credit WPSec and link to this advisory.