Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors <= 4.7.1 - Insecure Direct Object Reference to Authenticated (Author+) Arbitrary User Email Update and Account Takeover

Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
CVE CVE-2024-9215
CVSS High (8.8)
Publicly Published October 16, 2024
Last Updated October 17, 2024
Researcher wesley (wcraft)
Description

The Co-Authors, Multiple Authors and Guest Authors in an Author Box with PublishPress Authors plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Insecure Direct Object Reference to Privilege Escalation/Account Takeover in all versions up to, and including, 4.7.1 via the action_edited_author() due to missing validation on the 'authors-user_id' user controlled key. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Author-level access and above, to update arbitrary user accounts email addresses, including administrators, which can then be leveraged to reset that user's account password and gain access.

References

1 affected software package

Software Type Plugin
Software Slug publishpress-authors (view on wordpress.org)
Patched? Yes
Affected Version
  • <= 4.7.1
Patched Version
  • 4.7.2
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