Bulk Change Role <= 1.1 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- Bulk Change Role
- Affected Version
<= 1.1- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2024-50504
At a glance
CVE-2024-50504 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Bulk Change Role WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.1. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed October 2024, reported by ardias.
Vulnerability Overview
The Bulk Change Role plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation due to a missing capability check on the bulk_change_role_callback() function in all versions up to, and including, 1.1. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to set their role to that of an administrator.
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-862: Missing Authorization
Bulk Change Role <= 1.1 carries this weakness at bulk_change_role_callback(), and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.
Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Bulk Change Role yet, so installs running <= 1.1 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C