Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2024-33684

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-04-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
69/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable

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
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Pdfcrowd Save as PDF plugin by Pdfcrowd allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Save as PDF plugin by Pdfcrowd: from n/a through 3.2.0.

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

Missing authorization in the Pdfcrowd Save as PDF plugin allows attackers to inject and store malicious scripts (Stored XSS). The vulnerability stems from insufficient access control checks, enabling authenticated users to inject persistent scripts that execute when other users view generated PDF content.

MitigationUpdate to the latest version if available (3.2.0+) which should contain the authorization fix. If no patch exists, implement proper authorization checks on all plugin endpoints and sanitize all user inputs before rendering in PDF output.

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/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 checks

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

  1. Locate the Pdfcrowd Save as PDF plugin
    In your WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate the 'Pdfcrowd Save as PDF' plugin. Alternatively, check the plugin directory (wp-content/plugins/) for a folder containing 'pdfcrowd' in the name.
    Affected if The plugin is installed and active in your WordPress environment.
  2. Identify the installed plugin version
    In the WordPress plugins list, click on the plugin to view its details, or open the main plugin PHP file (usually pdfcrowd.php or similar) and look for a version comment or defined constant near the top of the file.
    Affected if The version number displayed is lower than 3.2.0, or no version is displayed and the plugin has not been updated recently.
  3. Verify the plugin is enabled for PDF generation
    Check if the plugin is activated in WordPress admin under Plugins and confirm that the PDF generation feature is being used (look for any Save as PDF buttons or shortcodes added to posts/pages).
    Affected if The plugin is activated and users can generate PDFs through it.
  4. Check for the presence of authorization checks on plugin endpoints
    If you have code access, examine the main plugin PHP file for functions handling PDF generation requests and look for capability checks (such as current_user_can, check_admin_referer, or nonce verification) before processing user input.
    Affected if The code lacks authorization verification on endpoints that accept user input for PDF content (version below 3.2.0 typically lacks this).

Your environment is affected if the Pdfcrowd Save as PDF plugin is installed, active, and running at a version prior to 3.2.0.

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 to the latest version if available (3.2.0+) which should contain the authorization fix. If no patch exists, implement proper authorization checks on all plugin endpoints and sanitize all user inputs before rendering in PDF output.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2024-33684 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
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