CVE-2014-3844
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe TinyMCE Color Picker plugin before 1.2 for WordPress does not properly check permissions, which allows remote attackers to modify plugin settings via unspecified vectors. NOTE: some of these details are obtained from third party information.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe TinyMCE Color Picker plugin before version 1.2 for WordPress contains a broken access control vulnerability where the plugin fails to properly verify user permissions before allowing modifications to plugin settings, enabling unauthenticated or unauthorized remote attackers to alter configuration.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 1.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the TinyMCE Color Picker plugin installationInspect the WordPress plugins directory at wp-content/plugins/ for a folder named tinymce-color-picker or similar variation; check the plugin files for the plugin header which contains the version numberAffected if The plugin folder exists and contains the TinyMCE Color Picker plugin files
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Verify the installed plugin versionOpen the main plugin PHP file (usually tinymce-color-picker.php) and locate the plugin version in the plugin header comment, or check the readme.txt file for the Version fieldAffected if The reported version is 1.1 or lower, or if no version header is found but the plugin is present
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Identify plugin settings endpointsExamine the plugin PHP files for AJAX actions (wp_ajax_ hooks), admin menu registration (add_menu_page or add_submenu_page), and form handlers that process configuration changesAffected if Settings can be modified without checking user capabilities (current_user_capability checks are absent or inadequate)
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Test unauthenticated access to plugin functionsInspect the plugin for AJAX handlers registered without the wp_ajax_nopriv_ prefix being used, and check if admin_init or similar hooks process requests without verifying user authenticationAffected if The plugin processes configuration changes for users who are not logged in or lack administrator privileges
A user is affected if the TinyMCE Color Picker plugin version 1.1 or earlier is installed and the plugin allows unauthenticated or unauthorized modification of its settings.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate the TinyMCE Color Picker plugin to version 1.2 or later which includes proper permission checking; additionally audit WordPress user roles and capabilities to ensure only authorized administrators can modify plugin settings.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-3844 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-3844 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data