BuddyPress <= 2.3.4 - Privilege Escalation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.3.5
- Affected Plugin
- BuddyPress
- Affected Version
<= 2.3.4- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the BuddyPress WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.3.4. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 2.3.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2015, reported by Slava Abakumov.
Vulnerability Overview
The BuddyPress plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 2.3.4. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers to execute otherwise privilege restricted actions and bypass capability checks.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management
Reaching this weakness in BuddyPress <= 2.3.4 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.
It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For BuddyPress the fix is 2.3.5: builds <= 2.3.4 are affected, anything from 2.3.5 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.3.5, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: BuddyPress 2.3.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in BuddyPress
- 10.0BuddyPress 2.0 - 2.7.3 Arbitrary File Deletion
- 9.8BuddyPress <= 9.0.0 SQL Injection
- 9.8CVE-2012-2109: BuddyPress - 1.5-1.5.4 SQL Injection
CVE-2012-2109 - 8.8BuddyPress <= 9.0.0 Information Disclosure via REST API
- 8.8BuddyPress <= 7.2.1 Insufficient Privilege De-escalation
- 8.8CVE-2021-21389: BuddyPress 5.0.0-7.2.0 Privilege Escalation
CVE-2021-21389 - 8.1CVE-2024-10011: BuddyPress <= 14.1.0 Directory Traversal
CVE-2024-10011 - 7.5CVE-2026-1360: BuddyPress <= 14.5.0 PHP Object Injection
CVE-2026-1360
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