dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2024-11194

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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
The Classified Listing – Classified ads & Business Directory Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to privilege escalation due to a misconfigured check on the 'rtcl_import_settings' function in all versions up to, and including, 3.1.15.1. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update limited arbitrary options on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to update the Subscriber role with Administrator-level capabilities to gain administrative user access to a vulnerable site. The vulnerability is limited in that the option updated must have a value that is an array.

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 confidence

The Classified Listing WordPress plugin has a broken access control vulnerability in the rtcl_import_settings function. Due to a missing or insufficient capability check, any authenticated user with Subscriber-level access can update arbitrary WordPress options, specifically those with array values. This can be exploited by modifying the Subscriber role to include Administrator capabilities, achieving full privilege escalation.

MitigationUpdate the plugin to version 3.1.16 or later which contains the security fix. If immediate update is not possible, consider restricting or temporarily disabling the affected plugin functionality until a patch can be applied.

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Classified Listing plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Classified Listing' (may appear as 'Classified Listing Pro' or 'rtcl'). Alternatively, check /wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder starting with 'classified-listing' or 'rtcl'.
    Affected if The plugin is present on the WordPress site regardless of version.
  2. Determine the installed plugin version
    In WordPress admin, click on the plugin name in the Plugins list to view version details. Or inspect the plugin's main PHP file header in /wp-content/plugins/classified-listing/ or similar path for 'Version:' tag.
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 3.1.16 (the patched version).
  3. Confirm WordPress users with Subscriber role exist
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and look for any users with 'Subscriber' listed under the Role column. Or query the wp_usermeta table where meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' and meta_value contains 'subscriber'.
    Affected if At least one user account with Subscriber role exists on the site.
  4. Check if rtcl_import_settings endpoint is accessible
    This requires examining the plugin code or testing. The vulnerability is in the rtcl_import_settings function which lacks proper capability validation. A POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=rtcl_import_settings and subscriber-level authentication would trigger the flaw if vulnerable.
    Affected if The plugin is vulnerable (version below 3.1.16) AND an attacker can authenticate as a Subscriber.

You are affected if the Classified Listing plugin version is below 3.1.16 AND your site has at least one user with Subscriber-level access that an attacker could use to exploit the broken access control.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the plugin to version 3.1.16 or later which contains the security fix. If immediate update is not possible, consider restricting or temporarily disabling the affected plugin functionality until a patch can be applied.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Classified Listing plugin version 3.1.16 or higher

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate the 'Classified Listing – Classified ads & Business Directory Plugin' (rtCL)
  4. If an update is available, click 'Update Now' to install the patched version
  5. After updating, verify the new version number matches or exceeds the fixed release
  6. Confirm the site functions normally after the update

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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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-2024-11194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data