dbcve.org
Controlled Admin AccessWordPress extension · Wpruby

CVE-2021-24215

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-04-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
An Improper Access Control vulnerability was discovered in the Controlled Admin Access WordPress plugin before 1.5.2. Uncontrolled access to the website customization functionality and global CMS settings, like /wp-admin/customization.php and /wp-admin/options.php, can lead to a complete compromise of the target resource.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-284

The application fails to correctly restrict what a user can do or reach, so functions or resources are available to people who should not have them. Attackers simply probe for the paths where the check is missing or wrong. The fix is to enforce access-control decisions consistently on every request, evaluated against the acting user rather than assumed from context.

General guidance for the improper access control class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
Controlled Admin AccessWordPress extension
Affected:< 1.5.2

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.5.2 or later
Fixed in 1.5.2
Recommended fix High confidence

1.5.2

  1. 1. Create a complete backup of the WordPress site (database and files) before making any changes.
  2. 2. Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard and go to Plugins > Installed Plugins.
  3. 3. Locate the 'Controlled Admin Access' plugin in the plugin list.
  4. 4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to upgrade the plugin to version 1.5.2 or later.
  5. 5. Alternatively, navigate to Dashboard > Updates and select the Controlled Admin Access plugin for updating.
  6. 6. After updating, verify the plugin version shows 1.5.2 or higher on the Plugins page.
  7. 7. Test that proper access controls are functioning by attempting to access /wp-admin/customization.php and /wp-admin/options.php as a non-privileged user to confirm the vulnerability is remediated.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-24215 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • 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
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