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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2024-43311

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 Geek Code Lab Login As Users allows Privilege Escalation.This issue affects Login As Users: from n/a through 1.4.2.

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 Geek Code Lab Login As Users plugin allows authenticated users to escalate privileges by impersonating other users, potentially including administrative accounts. The CVSS 9.8 rating suggests the flaw is exploitable with minimal complexity, likely without requiring high privileges or special conditions.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of Login As Users plugin; if no patch available, disable the plugin until remediation. Review user access controls and audit administrative accounts for unauthorized access.

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Identify Login As Users plugin installation
    Navigate to the WordPress admin dashboard, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins. Look for 'Login As Users' by Geek Code Lab or search the plugin directory.
    Affected if Plugin is present in the WordPress installation
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In Plugins list, locate the Login As Users plugin and note the version number displayed. Compare this to the vendor's release notes for any patched versions.
    Affected if Version is not updated to a patched release (no patched version specified in available advisory)
  3. Verify plugin is active
    In WordPress Plugins > Installed Plugins, confirm the Login As Users plugin shows as 'Active'.
    Affected if Plugin is active and enabled on the site
  4. Inspect impersonation access controls
    Go to plugin settings or user role capabilities. Check which user roles have permission to use the 'Login As' or 'Impersonate' feature. Verify if non-administrator roles have access.
    Affected if Users with limited privileges (subscriber, contributor, editor) can access or trigger the impersonation functionality
  5. Audit recent user account activity
    Review user session logs, activity logs, or admin audit logs for entries showing users logging in as other accounts, especially lower-privileged users accessing administrative accounts.
    Affected if Evidence exists of users accessing accounts other than their own, particularly privilege escalation patterns

If the Geek Code Lab Login As Users plugin is installed and active, the environment is likely affected by this privilege escalation vulnerability.

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

Upgrade to a patched version of Login As Users plugin; if no patch available, disable the plugin until remediation. Review user access controls and audit administrative accounts for unauthorized access.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Latest version of Login As Users plugin (version higher than 1.4.2) from wordpress.org/plugins or the official Geek Code Lab source

  1. 1. Backup your WordPress site before making any changes
  2. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins in WordPress admin
  3. 3. Find 'Login As Users' by Geek Code Lab
  4. 4. Check if current version is 1.4.2 or below - if so, the site is vulnerable
  5. 5. Update the plugin to the latest available version from the WordPress plugin repository
  6. 6. Verify the update completed successfully
  7. 7. Test the login-as-user functionality to ensure it still works for authorized administrators only
  8. 8. Review user roles and permissions to confirm no unauthorized privilege escalation occurred
Caveat Minor - ensure any custom role configurations are compatible with the new version

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2024-43311 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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