WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses <= 3.2.21 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary User Meta Update
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.2.22
- Affected Plugin
- WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses
- Affected Version
<= 3.2.21- CVSS
- 7.5High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2024-12172
At a glance
CVE-2024-12172 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WP Courses LMS WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.2.21. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.2.22; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2024, reported by Thanh Nam Tran.
Vulnerability Overview
The WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access due to a missing capability check on the wpc_update_user_meta_option() function in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.21. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary user's metadata which can be levereged to block an administrator from accessing their site when wp_capabilities is set to 0.
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 integrity.
CWE-862: Missing Authorization
WP Courses LMS <= 3.2.21 carries this weakness at wpc_update_user_meta_option(), and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. 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 WP Courses LMS the fix is 3.2.22: builds <= 3.2.21 are affected, anything from 3.2.22 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.2.22, 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: WP Courses LMS 3.2.22 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in WP Courses LMS – Online Courses Builder, eLearning Courses, Courses Solution, Education Courses
- 7.5CVE-2020-26876: WP Courses <= 2.0.28 Improper Access Controls
CVE-2020-26876 - 6.4CVE-2026-31914: WP Courses LMS Stored XSS
CVE-2026-31914 - 4.8CVE-2021-24621: WP Courses LMS < 2.0.44 Stored Cross-Site Scripting
CVE-2021-24621 - 4.3CVE-2026-10630: WP Courses LMS IDOR
CVE-2026-10630 - 4.3WP Courses LMS <= 3.2.3 Cross-Site Request Forgery
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