Newsletters <= 4.9.9.2 - Authenticated Privilege Escalation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 4.9.9.3
- Affected Plugin
- Newsletters
- Affected Version
<= 4.9.9.2- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE-2024-8247
At a glance
CVE-2024-8247 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the Newsletters WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.9.9.2. 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. The issue is fixed in version 4.9.9.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2024, reported by rajesh patil.
Vulnerability Overview
The Newsletters plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 4.9.9.2. This is due to the plugin not restricting what user meta can be updated as screen options. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their privileges to that of an administrator. Please note that this only affects users with access to edit/update screen options, which means an administrator would need to grant lower privilege users with access to the Sent & Draft Emails page of the plugin in order for this to be exploited.
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-269: Improper Privilege Management
Reaching this weakness in Newsletters <= 4.9.9.2 takes any authenticated account. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.
It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For Newsletters the fix is 4.9.9.3: builds <= 4.9.9.2 are affected, anything from 4.9.9.3 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 4.9.9.3, 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: Newsletters 4.9.9.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Newsletters
- 9.8CVE-2018-20987: Newsletters <= 4.6.8.5 Object Injection
CVE-2018-20987 - 9.1CVE-2024-32954: Newsletters <= 4.9.5 Arbitrary File Upload
CVE-2024-32954 - 8.8CVE-2019-14788: Newsletters <= 4.6.18 Directory Traversal
CVE-2019-14788 - 8.1CVE-2026-16267: Newsletters <= 4.15 PHP Object Injection
CVE-2026-16267 - 8.1CVE-2026-12583: Newsletters <= 4.14 PHP Object Injection
CVE-2026-12583 - 8.1CVE-2025-67911: Newsletters <= 4.11 PHP Object Injection
CVE-2025-67911 - 8.1CVE-2025-54034: Newsletters <= 4.10 Local File Inclusion
CVE-2025-54034 - 7.5CVE-2026-3018: Newsletters <= 4.13 SQL Injection
CVE-2026-3018
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