CVE-2020-36833
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 Indeed Membership Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to missing capability checks on various AJAX actions in versions 7.3 - 8.6. This makes it possible for authenticated attacker, with minimal permission, such as a subscriber, to perform a variety of actions such as modifying settings and viewing sensitive data.
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 · high confidenceThe Indeed Membership Pro plugin for WordPress versions 7.3-8.6 fails to implement WordPress capability checks (such as current_user_can()) on AJAX action handlers. This allows authenticated users with subscriber-level permissions to execute privileged administrative functions, potentially modifying settings and accessing sensitive data.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
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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Verify plugin installationCheck if the Indeed Membership Pro plugin directory exists in your WordPress plugins folder (wp-content/plugins/indeed-membership-pro or similar naming)Affected if The plugin directory is not present - not vulnerable because plugin is not installed
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Identify installed versionOpen the main plugin file (e.g., indeed-membership-pro.php) and locate the Version header in the plugin comment block, or check the readme.txt file for the version numberAffected if Unable to determine version - manual inspection required
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Compare version against affected rangeCompare your installed version number to the affected range 7.3-8.6. Versions 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, and 8.6 are all vulnerableAffected if Installed version falls between 7.3 and 8.6 inclusive - your environment is affected by this CVE
Your environment is affected only if the Indeed Membership Pro plugin is installed AND the installed version falls within the range 7.3 to 8.6 inclusive.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate the plugin to version 8.7 or later where capability checks have been implemented. Additionally, audit user roles and permissions to ensure only trusted users have account access.
Latest version of Indeed Membership Pro plugin (version 8.7 or higher)
- Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
- Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
- Locate 'Indeed Membership Pro' in the plugin list
- Check the current installed version matches the vulnerable range (7.3 - 8.6)
- If vulnerable, click 'Update now' if an update is available, or download the latest version from the WordPress plugin repository
- After updating, verify the new version is installed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $4,224.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-36833 — 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-2020-36833 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