QAEngine <= 1.4 - Privilege Escalation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.5
- Affected Theme
- QAEngine
- Affected Version
<= 1.4- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the QAEngine WordPress theme, affecting versions <= 1.4. 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 1.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2015, reported by Evex.
Vulnerability Overview
The QAEngine theme for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation in versions up to, and including, 1.4 via the 'class-ae-users.php' file and 'ae-sync-user' AJAX action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers to gain access to an administrative account.
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-269: Improper Privilege Management
QAEngine <= 1.4 carries this weakness at ae-sync-user, and reaching it 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 QAEngine the fix is 1.5: builds <= 1.4 are affected, anything from 1.5 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.5, 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: QAEngine 1.5 closes this, and updating the theme is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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