Login as User or Customer < 1.8 - Missing Authorization to Arbitrary Plugin Installation/Activation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.8
- Affected Plugin
- Login as User or Customer — User Switching
- Affected Version
< 1.8- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2021-24195
At a glance
CVE-2021-24195 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Login as User or Customer WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.8. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The root cause is a missing authorization check on a reachable function. The issue is fixed in version 1.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2021, reported by Bugbang.
Vulnerability Overview
Low privileged users can use the AJAX action 'cp_plugins_do_button_job_later_callback' in the Login as User or Customer (User Switching) WordPress plugin before 1.8, to install any plugin (including a specific version) from the WordPress repository, as well as activate arbitrary plugin from then blog, which helps attackers install vulnerable plugins and could lead to more critical vulnerabilities like RCE.
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
Login as User or Customer < 1.8 carries this weakness at cp_plugins_do_button_job_later_callback, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 Login as User or Customer the fix is 1.8: builds < 1.8 are affected, anything from 1.8 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.8, 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: Login as User or Customer 1.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Login as User or Customer — User Switching
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