CVE-2021-24184

Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution <= 1.7.6 - Unprotected AJAX including Privilege Escalation

2021-03-15 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.7.7
Affected Plugin: Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution
Affected Version: < 1.7.7
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE: CVE-2021-24184

View all Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24184 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the Tutor LMS WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.7.7. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 1.7.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2021, reported by Chloe Chamberland.

Vulnerability Overview

Several AJAX endpoints in the Tutor LMS – eLearning and online course solution WordPress plugin before 1.7.7 were unprotected, allowing students to modify course information and elevate their privileges among many other actions.

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 Tutor LMS < 1.7.7 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 Tutor LMS the fix is 1.7.7: builds < 1.7.7 are affected, anything from 1.7.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.7.7, 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: Tutor LMS 1.7.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24184 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64bae119-12c3-4b3e-88a7-2eb5a7b1b537 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24184

Related records

CVSS Vector

8.8

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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