CVE-2022-38070

Pop-up <= 1.1.5 - Privilege Escalation

2022-09-02 00:00
Tien Nguyen Ahn

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.1.6
Affected Plugin
Pop-up
Affected Version
<= 1.1.5
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE
CVE-2022-38070
View all Pop-up vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2022-38070 is a medium-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the Pop-up WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.1.5. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 1.1.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2022, reported by Tien Nguyen Ahn.

Vulnerability Overview

The Pop-up plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 1.1.5. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers (with subscriber-level privileges or higher) to execute otherwise privilege restricted actions and bypass capability checks.

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.

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in Pop-up <= 1.1.5 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 Pop-up the fix is 1.1.6: builds <= 1.1.5 are affected, anything from 1.1.6 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.1.6, 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: Pop-up 1.1.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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