CVE-2024-9863
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 · uneditedThe Miniorange OTP Verification with Firebase plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in versions up to, and including, 3.6.0 due to the insecure 'administrator' default value for the 'default_user_role' option. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register an administrator user even if the registration form is disabled.
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 confidenceThe Miniorange OTP Verification with Firebase WordPress plugin versions up to 3.6.0 has a privilege escalation vulnerability caused by an insecure default value of 'administrator' for the 'default_user_role' option. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this to register administrator-level accounts even when user registration is disabled.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed plugin versionNavigate to WordPress admin > Plugins > Installed Plugins and locate 'Miniorange OTP Verification with Firebase' to view the version number, or check the plugin header in wp-content/plugins/miniorange-otp-verification/miniorange_validation.php for the 'Version' commentAffected if The installed version is 3.6.0 or any earlier version up to and including 3.6.0
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Inspect the default_user_role option valueQuery the WordPress database: SELECT option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name = 'default_user_role'; OR use WP-CLI: wp option get default_user_roleAffected if The option value is set to 'administrator' (this is the insecure default that enables the vulnerability)
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Check for newly created administrator accountsQuery user accounts with administrator role: SELECT user_login, user_registered FROM wp_users u JOIN wp_usermeta m ON u.ID = m.user_id WHERE m.meta_key = 'wp_capabilities' AND m.meta_value LIKE '%administrator%' ORDER BY user_registered DESC; Look for accounts created around the time the vulnerable plugin was activeAffected if There are administrator accounts that were created when user registration was supposedly disabled, or unexpected administrator accounts exist
You are affected if the plugin version is 3.6.0 or earlier AND the default_user_role option is set to 'administrator', or if unauthorized administrator accounts exist in your WordPress users table.
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 dataUpdate the plugin to version 3.6.1 or later and change the default_user_role setting from 'administrator' to a lower-privileged role such as 'subscriber'.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-9863 — 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-2024-9863 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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- 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