CVE-2023-6855

Paid Memberships Pro <= 2.12.5 - Missing Authorization via API

2023-12-21 00:00
Webbernaut

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.12.6
Affected Plugin
Paid Memberships Pro – Content Restriction, User Registration, & Paid Subscriptions
Affected Version
<= 2.12.5
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2023-6855
View all Paid Memberships Pro – Content Restriction, User Registration, & Paid Subscriptions vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-6855 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Paid Memberships Pro WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.12.5. 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 2.12.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2023, reported by Webbernaut.

Vulnerability Overview

The Paid Memberships Pro – Content Restriction, User Registration, & Paid Subscriptions plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of membership levels created by the plugin due to an incorrectly implemented capability check in the pmpro_rest_api_get_permissions_check function in all versions up to 2.12.5 (inclusive). This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to change membership levels including prices.

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-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Paid Memberships Pro <= 2.12.5 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 Paid Memberships Pro the fix is 2.12.6: builds <= 2.12.5 are affected, anything from 2.12.6 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.12.6, 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: Paid Memberships Pro 2.12.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-6855https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/383c7837-e7b7-4608-9cdc-91b7dbc7f4e2https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6855

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C