HighCVE-2024-31210

    PHP file upload bypass via Plugin installer (CVE-2024-31210)

    Published Sources: Debian, CVE.org, OSV

    What is affected, what to do

    WordPress is an open publishing platform for the Web. It's possible for a file of a type other than a zip file to be submitted as a new plugin by an administrative user on the Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin screen in WordPress.

    Update Wordpress-develop to version 4.1.40.

    Affected
    • Wordpress-develop gte 4.2.0, < 4.2.37..*
    • Wordpress-develop lt *..4.1.40
    Fixed in
    • Wordpress-develop 4.1.40

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    8.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    7.7

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Debian, CVE.org, OSV

    1.0 %

    EPSS score

    Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 62.5

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    74.62 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    8.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.7
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    1.0 %
    Moderate — model estimates 1-10% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    62.5
    High — this CVE ranks above the median of all CVEs scored today (rank ≥ 36%).
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-434

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    WordPress is an open publishing platform for the Web. It's possible for a file of a type other than a zip file to be submitted as a new plugin by an administrative user on the Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin screen in WordPress. If FTP credentials are requested for installation (in order to move the file into place outside of the `uploads` directory) then the uploaded file remains temporary available in the Media Library despite it not being allowed. If the `DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT` constant is set to `true` on the site _and_ FTP credentials are required when uploading a new theme or plugin, then this technically allows an RCE when the user would otherwise have no means of executing arbitrary PHP code. This issue _only_ affects Administrator level users on single site installations, and Super Admin level users on Multisite installations where it's otherwise expected that the user does not have permission to upload or execute arbitrary PHP code. Lower level users are not affected. Sites where the `DISALLOW_FILE_MODS` constant is set to `true` are not affected. Sites where an administrative user either does not need to enter FTP credentials or they have access to the valid FTP credentials, are not affected. The issue was fixed in WordPress 6.4.3 on January 30, 2024 and backported to versions 6.3.3, 6.2.4, 6.1.5, 6.0.7, 5.9.9, 5.8.9, 5.7.11, 5.6.13, 5.5.14, 5.4.15, 5.3.17, 5.2.20, 5.1.18, 5.0.21, 4.9.25, 2.8.24, 4.7.28, 4.6.28, 4.5.31, 4.4.32, 4.3.33, 4.2.37, and 4.1.40. A workaround is available. If the `DISALLOW_FILE_MODS` constant is defined as `true` then it will not be possible for any user to upload a plugin and therefore this issue will not be exploitable.

    Source: Debian Security Advisories, NVD (NIST), OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities), cvelistv5

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    WordPresswordpress-develop
    • < 4.1.40
    • ≥ 4.2.0, < 4.2.37
    • 4.1.40
    • —
    wordpresswordpress
    • 5.9 – < 5.9.9
    • 5.4 – < 5.4.15
    • 6.2 – < 6.2.4
    • 6.4.0 – < 6.4.3
    • 5.2 – < 5.2.20
    • 5.6 – < 5.6.13
    • 4.8 – < 4.8.24
    • 5.5 – < 5.5.14
    • 4.2 – < 4.2.37
    • 4.7 – < 4.7.28
    • 4.4 – < 4.4.32
    • 4.9 – < 4.9.25
    • 5.7 – < 5.7.11
    • 5.1 – < 5.1.18
    • 6.3 – < 6.3.3
    • 6.0 – < 6.0.7
    • < 4.1.40
    • 4.6 – < 4.6.28
    • 4.3 – < 4.3.33
    • 5.8 – < 5.8.9
    • 5.3 – < 5.3.17
    • 4.5 – < 4.5.31
    • 5.0 – < 5.0.21
    • 6.1 – < 6.1.5
    • 5.9.9
    • 5.4.15
    • 6.2.4
    • 6.4.3
    • 5.2.20
    • 5.6.13
    • 4.8.24
    • 5.5.14
    • 4.2.37
    • 4.7.28
    • 4.4.32
    • 4.9.25
    • 5.7.11
    • 5.1.18
    • 6.3.3
    • 6.0.7
    • 4.1.40
    • 4.6.28
    • 4.3.33
    • 5.8.9
    • 5.3.17
    • 4.5.31
    • 5.0.21
    • 6.1.5
    Distribution and container packages (23)

    Downstream packages (e.g. Bitnami, Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat). Versions refer to the distribution, not the vendor.

    Distribution and container packages
    Affected versionsFixed in
    bitnamiwordpress-multisite
    • 6.1.0
    • 5.1.0
    • 5.4.0
    • 4.2.0
    • 6.2.0
    • 4.6.0
    • 4.5.0
    • 5.2.0
    • 5.6.0
    • 6.3.0
    • 5.8.0
    • 6.0.0
    • 4.7.0
    • 5.5.0
    • 4.8.0
    • 5.3.0
    • 6.4.0
    • 4.3.0
    • 4.4.0
    • 4.9.0
    • 5.0.0
    • 5.9.0
    • 5.7.0
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianwordpressbookworm
    Linuxdebianwordpressbullseye

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-434Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

      Base

      The product allows the upload or transfer of dangerous file types that are automatically processed within its environment.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-434

    References & sources

    • github.comWordPress/wordpress-develop/security/advisories/GHSA-x79f-xrjv-…web, x_refsource_CONFIRM, Vendor advisory
    • NVD (NIST)vuln/detail/CVE-2024-31210web
    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2024-31210
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2024-31210"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2024-31210.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2024-31210 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>