PublishPress Capabilities <= 2.3 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.3.1
- Affected Version
< 2.3.1- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2021-25032
At a glance
CVE-2021-25032 is a critical-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the PublishPress Capabilities WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.3.1. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.3.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by Krzysztof Zając.
Vulnerability Overview
The PublishPress Capabilities WordPress plugin before 2.3.1, PublishPress Capabilities Pro WordPress plugin before 2.3.1 does not have authorisation and CSRF checks when updating the plugin's settings via the init hook, and does not ensure that the options to be updated belong to the plugin. As a result, unauthenticated attackers could update arbitrary blog options, such as the default role and make any new registered user with an administrator role.
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 privileges on the target site, 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
Reaching this weakness in PublishPress Capabilities < 2.3.1 takes no account at all. 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. For PublishPress Capabilities the fix is 2.3.1: builds < 2.3.1 are affected, anything from 2.3.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.3.1, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: PublishPress Capabilities 2.3.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in PublishPress Capabilities: User Role Access Control, Admin Area Permissions
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