CVE-2024-35686
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 · uneditedMissing Authorization vulnerability in Automattic Sensei LMS, Automattic Sensei Pro (WC Paid Courses).This issue affects Sensei LMS: from n/a through 4.23.1; Sensei Pro (WC Paid Courses): from n/a through 4.23.1.1.23.1.
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 confidenceMissing Authorization vulnerability in Automattic Sensei LMS and Sensei Pro (WC Paid Courses) allows unauthorized users to access certain functionality due to improper or missing authorization checks in the affected versions through 4.23.1/4.23.1.1.23.1.
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify installed Sensei LMS versionNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins and locate Sensei LMS in the plugins list to view the installed version number, or query the database via: SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'sensei_lms_version' OR option_name = 'plugin_version' AND option_value LIKE '%sensei%';Affected if The installed version is 4.23.1 or earlier for Sensei LMS, or 4.23.1.1.23.1 or earlier for Sensei Pro (WC Paid Courses)
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Confirm Sensei Pro (WC Paid Courses) installationCheck for presence of WC Paid Courses plugin in WordPress admin > Plugins, or query: SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'active_plugins' AND option_value LIKE '%wc-paid-courses%';Affected if WC Paid Courses plugin is installed and active alongside Sensei LMS
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Review user role capabilitiesUsing a user role editor plugin or WP-CLI: wp user role list, examine if any custom roles or modified roles exist with elevated capabilities that should be restrictedAffected if Non-administrator users have roles with capabilities that should be restricted but are not properly limited by Sensei's authorization controls
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Audit access to Sensei functionalityTest access to sensitive Sensei LMS functions (course creation, grade modification, user enrollment management) using a low-privilege user account that should not have such accessAffected if Users with limited role permissions (e.g., student, subscriber) can access administrative or instructor-level functionality they should not be able to reach
A user is affected if they run Sensei LMS version 4.23.1 or earlier (or Sensei Pro/WC Paid Courses 4.23.1.1.23.1 or earlier) and low-privilege users can access restricted functionality due to missing authorization checks.
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.
From vendor dataApply vendor patches when available; as an interim measure, review and restrict user role permissions and implement additional access controls at the application or WAF level to enforce proper authorization.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-35686 — 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-2024-35686 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