User meta shortcodes <= 0.5 - Improper Access Control
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Plugin
- User meta shortcodes
- Affected Version
<= 0.5- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
- CVE
CVE-2021-24859
At a glance
CVE-2021-24859 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control vulnerability in the User meta shortcodes WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.5. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed November 2021, reported by Francesco Carlucci.
Vulnerability Overview
The User Meta Shortcodes WordPress plugin through 0.5 registers a shortcode that allows any user with a role as low as contributor to access other users metadata by specifying the user login as a parameter. This makes the WP instance vulnerable to data extrafiltration, including password hashes
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-284: Improper Access Control
Reaching this weakness in User meta shortcodes <= 0.5 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper access control means the code decides what a caller may do using something other than their actual permissions, so the decision can be wrong without any check appearing to be missing.
Whoever can shape the request decides the answer, so the protected action runs for callers the code never meant to allow. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for User meta shortcodes yet, so installs running <= 0.5 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.
Remediation
No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
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. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C