CVE-2020-36666

Multiple E-plugins (Various Versions) - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Privilege Escalation

2023-03-06 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.9.5
Affected Plugin: Directory Pro
Affected Version: < 1.9.5
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-266 · Incorrect Privilege Assignment
CVE: CVE-2020-36666

At a glance

CVE-2020-36666 is a high-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in the Directory Pro WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.9.5. 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. The issue is fixed in version 1.9.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2023, reported by Omar Badran.

Vulnerability Overview

Multiple plugins by the vendor E-plugins are vulnerable to privilege escalation due to insufficient restriction on several functions called via AJAX actions that set a user's role based on supplied role information. This makes it possible authenticated, subscriber-level and above attackers to elevate their privileges 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-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment

A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

Remediation

Update to version 1.9.5, 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: Directory Pro 1.9.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-36666 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/629d4809-1dd2-4b67-8d8d-9c55f5240f94 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36666

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Directory Pro

CVSS Vector

8.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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