CVE-2021-24783

Post Expirator <= 2.5.1 - Contributor+ Arbitrary Post Schedule Deletion

2021-10-11 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.6.0
Affected Plugin: Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories
Affected Version: <= 2.5.1
CVSS: 4.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-863 · Incorrect Authorization
CVE: CVE-2021-24783

View all Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24783 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization vulnerability in the Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.5.1. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 2.6.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2021, reported by apple502j.

Vulnerability Overview

The Post Expirator WordPress plugin before 2.6.0 does not have proper capability checks in place, which could allow users with a role as low as Contributor to schedule deletion of arbitrary posts.

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-863: Incorrect Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future <= 2.5.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Incorrect authorization means a permission check exists but evaluates the wrong thing, so it passes for callers it was meant to stop.

The action runs for users the code intended to exclude, with the same effect as having no check at all. For Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future the fix is 2.6.0: builds <= 2.5.1 are affected, anything from 2.6.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.6.0, 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: Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future 2.6.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24783 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f0576cde-8d32-4f06-899a-a9ebff99d8ba https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24783

Related records

CVSS Vector

4.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

This record contains material that is subject to copyright

CVE Usage: MITRE hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®). Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse

Defiant hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute this software vulnerability information. Any copy of the software vulnerability information you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you include a hyperlink to this vulnerability record and reproduce Defiant's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/