CVE-2021-24649

WP User Frontend <= 3.5.28 - Privilege Escalation

2022-10-31 00:00
AyeCode Ltd

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.5.29
Affected Plugin
User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission
Affected Version
<= 3.5.28
CVSS
8.1High
Weakness type
CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE
CVE-2021-24649
View all User Frontend – Membership, User Registration, User Profile, User Directory & Content Restriction with Frontend Post Submission vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24649 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the User Frontend WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.5.28. It carries a CVSS score of 8.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity impact). The issue is fixed in version 3.5.29; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2022, reported by AyeCode Ltd.

Vulnerability Overview

The WP User Frontend plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation due to the default user role checking on the process_registration function in versions up to, and including, 3.5.28 which accepts user supplied input via the urhidden value. This makes it possible for attackers, under certain circumstances, to register as administrators. This requires the attacker have access to the AUTH_KEY and AUTH_SALT values from wp-config.php.

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.

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in User Frontend <= 3.5.28 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 User Frontend the fix is 3.5.29: builds <= 3.5.28 are affected, anything from 3.5.29 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.5.29, 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 Frontend 3.5.29 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-24649https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4a0f77ca-2fb5-4e73-a0fa-dfbeb39fbd84https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-24649

Related records

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