BuddyformsWordPress extension · Themekraft

CVE-2024-5149

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-06-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.8.9 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The BuddyForms plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Email Verification Bypass in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.9 via the use of an insufficiently random activation code. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to bypass the email verification.

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 · high confidence

The BuddyForms WordPress plugin versions up to 2.8.9 use an insufficiently random activation code for email verification, allowing unauthenticated attackers to potentially predict or brute-force the code and bypass the verification mechanism.

MitigationUpdate BuddyForms to version 2.9.0 or later, which implements properly randomized activation codes. Prior to production deployment, test email verification functionality in a staging environment.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
BuddyformsWordPress extension
Affected:<= 2.8.9

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
Low
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Verify BuddyForms plugin version
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate BuddyForms. Check the version number displayed. Alternatively, inspect the plugin header in /wp-content/plugins/buddyforms/buddyforms.php for the 'Version' comment.
    Affected if The installed version is 2.8.9 or lower.
  2. Confirm email verification is enabled
    Navigate to BuddyForms > Forms > [Select a Form] > Post Form > Submission. Look for the 'Enable Email Verification' or 'Require Email Verification' setting in the form configuration.
    Affected if Email verification is turned ON for any form in the plugin.
  3. Check for pending user activations
    In WordPress admin, go to BuddyForms > Submissions or Users (depending on form type). Look for entries with status indicating 'pending', 'awaiting verification', or 'inactive' that rely on email activation.
    Affected if There are user registrations or form submissions pending email verification that use the activation code system.

If BuddyForms version is 2.8.9 or lower AND email verification is enabled for any form, the environment is vulnerable to predictable activation code attacks.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 2.8.9
Interim mitigation

Update BuddyForms to version 2.9.0 or later, which implements properly randomized activation codes. Prior to production deployment, test email verification functionality in a staging environment.

Fix this in Buddyforms Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-5149 — 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-2024-5149 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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