User Meta Manager Plugin < 3.4.7 - Privilege Escalation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.4.7
- Affected Plugin
- User Meta Manager
- Affected Version
< 3.4.7- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the User Meta Manager WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 3.4.7. 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 3.4.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2016, reported by Panagiotis Vagenas.
Vulnerability Overview
The User Meta Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to a missing capability check on the umm_update_user_meta() function in versions up to, and including, 3.4.6. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level permissions and above, to escalate their account to an administrator-level account by updating their user meta.
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-862: Missing Authorization
User Meta Manager < 3.4.7 carries this weakness at umm_update_user_meta(), and reaching it 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 User Meta Manager the fix is 3.4.7: builds < 3.4.7 are affected, anything from 3.4.7 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.4.7, 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: User Meta Manager 3.4.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in User Meta Manager
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