Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2024-33550

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-17
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
Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in JR King/Eran Schoellhorn WP Masquerade allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects WP Masquerade: from n/a through 1.1.0.

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 confidence

Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the WP Masquerade WordPress plugin (versions through 1.1.0) allows authenticated users to escalate privileges beyond what their assigned role should permit, likely through insufficient validation of user capabilities when the plugin's masquerade functionality is invoked.

MitigationUpdate WP Masquerade to the latest patched version immediately; if no patched version is available, remove the plugin and verify no unauthorized accounts or role changes exist.

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. Confirm WP Masquerade plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard under Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'WP Masquerade' in the list, or inspect the wp-content/plugins/ directory for a folder containing 'masquerade' in the name
    Affected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
  2. Determine installed plugin version
    In the Plugins list view, click the plugin name to view its details and locate the version number displayed under the plugin name, or open the main plugin PHP file and check the 'Version' header in the plugin comment block
    Affected if The version listed is 1.1.0 or any version lower (e.g., 1.0.x, 0.x) since all versions through 1.1.0 are affected
  3. Verify masquerade functionality is active
    Check if the plugin has been activated by looking for a 'Masquerade' menu item or settings page in the WordPress admin sidebar, or check the wp_options table for option_name containing 'wp_masquerade' with an active value
    Affected if The plugin shows as Activated and its settings or menu items are accessible in the admin dashboard
  4. Audit user roles and account integrity
    Navigate to Users > All Users in WordPress admin and review all accounts for unexpected roles (especially Administrator roles created by non-admins), or query the wp_usermeta table for role assignments that do not match expected permissions
    Affected if Any user accounts exist with elevated privileges that were not created by an existing Administrator, or unexpected role changes are present

A user is affected if the WP Masquerade plugin is installed with version 1.1.0 or lower AND the plugin is activated, allowing potential privilege escalation through its masquerade functionality.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update WP Masquerade to the latest patched version immediately; if no patched version is available, remove the plugin and verify no unauthorized accounts or role changes exist.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-33550 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-33550 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