Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.0.2
- Affected Plugin
- Maintenance Mode
- Affected Version
<= 3.0.1- CVSS
- 5.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
- CVE
CVE-2024-1478
At a glance
CVE-2024-1478 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control vulnerability in the Maintenance Mode WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.0.1. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.0.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2024, reported by Francesco Carlucci.
Vulnerability Overview
The Maintenance Mode plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 via the REST API. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to obtain post and page content via API thus bypassing the content protection provided by the plugin.
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.
CWE-284: Improper Access Control
Reaching this weakness in Maintenance Mode <= 3.0.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper access control means the code decides what a caller may do using something other than their actual permissions, so the decision can be wrong without any check appearing to be missing.
Whoever can shape the request decides the answer, so the protected action runs for callers the code never meant to allow. For Maintenance Mode the fix is 3.0.2: builds <= 3.0.1 are affected, anything from 3.0.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.0.2, 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: Maintenance Mode 3.0.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Maintenance Mode
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