CVE-2021-36879

Listing, Classified Ads & Business Directory – uListing <= 2.0.5 - Privilege Escalation

2021-07-27 05:17

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.0.6
Affected Plugin: Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing
Affected Version: <= 2.0.5
CVSS: 9.8Critical
Weakness type: CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE: CVE-2021-36879

View all Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-36879 is a critical-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the Directory Listings WordPress plugin WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.0.5. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.0.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2021, reported by R3N0.

Vulnerability Overview

Unauthenticated Privilege Escalation vulnerability in WordPress uListing plugin (versions <= 2.0.5). Possible if WordPress configuration allows user registration.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in Directory Listings WordPress plugin <= 2.0.5 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 Directory Listings WordPress plugin the fix is 2.0.6: builds <= 2.0.5 are affected, anything from 2.0.6 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.0.6, 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: Directory Listings WordPress plugin 2.0.6 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-36879 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/613f22f2-2f84-4d01-a1ea-c14a25843700 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-36879

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Directory Listings WordPress plugin – uListing

CVSS Vector

9.8

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

Base

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

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