AccessPress Themes and Plugin <= Various Versions - Missing Authorization to Arbitrary Plugin Deactivation/Activation
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Unpatched
- Affected Theme
- The Monday
- Affected Version
<= 1.4.1- CVSS
- 8.8High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2022-23975
At a glance
CVE-2022-23975 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the The Monday WordPress theme, affecting versions <= 1.4.1. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The root cause is a missing authorization check on a reachable function. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed January 2022, reported by R3N0.
Vulnerability Overview
A WordPress plugin and several WordPress themes developed by AccessPress Themes are vulnerable to unauthorized plugin deactivation and activation via the plugin_activation_callback and plugin_deactivate_callback functions called via AJAX actions that were missing capability checks and nonce validation. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with minimal permissions such as a subscriber, to deactivate and activate arbitrary plugins. This could be used to deactivate security plugins and exploit other potential vulnerabilities.
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-862: Missing Authorization
Reaching this weakness in The Monday <= 1.4.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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. No fixed build of this theme is recorded for The Monday yet, so installs running <= 1.4.1 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
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in The Monday
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