CVE-2024-43235
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 MetaBox.Io Meta Box – WordPress Custom Fields Framework allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Meta Box – WordPress Custom Fields Framework: from n/a through 5.9.10.
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 Meta Box WordPress plugin allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. The plugin fails to properly verify user permissions before allowing access to certain functionality, potentially permitting lower-privileged users to perform actions reserved for higher-privileged roles.
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
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
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 Meta Box plugin versionNavigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins > Meta Box, or use WP-CLI: wp plugin list --name=meta-box. Check the version number displayed.Affected if Version is lower than 5.9.11 (the patched version).
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Verify user role configurationGo to WordPress Admin > Users > Roles, or use WP-CLI: wp role list. Review which custom roles or capabilities may have been created by Meta Box plugin.Affected if Lower-privileged users (subscribers, contributors) have been assigned elevated Meta Box-specific capabilities.
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Inspect plugin capabilitiesCheck if Meta Box has added custom capabilities to any user role. Use WP-CLI: wp cap list <role> to inspect capabilities assigned to roles like editor, author, contributor, or subscriber.Affected if Any role below administrator has capabilities that should be restricted to administrators.
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Check for publicly accessible Meta Box endpointsReview the site for any wp-json/mb/v1/* or admin-ajax.php endpoints that Meta Box may expose. Use a web proxy or check the plugin files for registered REST API routes.Affected if Meta Box REST API endpoints are accessible without proper capability checks.
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Review audit logs for unauthorized accessCheck WordPress activity logs or security logs for actions performed by lower-privileged users that modify post meta, custom fields, or database entries that should require higher privileges.Affected if Actions from subscriber/contributor accounts that modify system configurations or other users' content are logged.
A user is affected if the installed Meta Box plugin version is below 5.9.11 AND the site has user roles with elevated capabilities that could be exploited by lower-privileged users.
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 the vendor patch/upgrade to the latest version of Meta Box plugin (5.9.11 or later). Review user role capabilities and ensure least-privilege principles are followed until patch is applied.
- 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-2024-43235 — 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-2024-43235 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