CVE-2024-43245

JobSearch <= 2.3.4 - Authentication Bypass to Account Takeover

2024-08-12 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Unpatched
Affected Plugin: JobSearch WP Job Board
Affected Version: <= 2.3.4
CVSS: 9.8Critical
Weakness type: CWE-288 · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
CVE: CVE-2024-43245

View all JobSearch WP Job Board vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2024-43245 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability in the JobSearch WP Job Board WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.3.4. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed August 2024, reported by Dave Jong.

Vulnerability Overview

The JobSearch WP Job Board plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in all versions up to, and including, 2.3.4. This is due to the plugin not properly validating identity on login functionality. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to gain access to accounts they should not have access to.

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-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Reaching this weakness in JobSearch WP Job Board <= 2.3.4 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authentication bypass through an alternate path means the application has a second route to a protected action that skips the checks the primary route performs.

The protection on the main path becomes irrelevant, because the attacker simply uses the route that never asks. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for JobSearch WP Job Board yet, so installs running <= 2.3.4 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

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-43245 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7250da0a-1ac6-48a6-a480-0721d604add3 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-43245

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in JobSearch WP Job Board

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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