Login Sign Up

CVE-2020-13693

9.8 CRITICAL
Authentication Bypass

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to escalate privileges in WordPress sites using the bbPress plugin when New User Registration is enabled. Attackers can gain administrative access without credentials. All WordPress installations with vulnerable bbPress versions and user registration enabled are affected.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • WordPress bbPress plugin
Versions: Versions before 2.6.5
Operating Systems: All
Default Config Vulnerable: ✅ No
Notes: Requires New User Registration to be enabled in WordPress settings. Not vulnerable if registration is disabled.

📦 What is this software?

Bbpress by Bbpress

View all CVEs affecting Bbpress →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete site takeover with administrative privileges, allowing data theft, defacement, malware injection, and further network compromise.

🟠

Likely Case

Unauthorized administrative access leading to content manipulation, plugin/theme installation, and user account compromise.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited impact with proper access controls, monitoring, and network segmentation preventing lateral movement.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH
🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes
Weaponized: LIKELY
Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes
Complexity: LOW

Public exploit code available. Simple HTTP requests can trigger the vulnerability without authentication.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 2.6.5

Vendor Advisory: https://bbpress.org/blog/2020/05/bbpress-2-6-5-is-out/

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find bbPress and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify version is 2.6.5 or later.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable New User Registration

all

Temporarily disable user registration in WordPress settings to prevent exploitation

Disable bbPress Plugin

all

Deactivate the bbPress plugin until patching is possible

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Implement web application firewall rules to block privilege escalation attempts
  • Enable detailed logging and monitoring for user registration and role change events

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Installed Plugins → bbPress version. If version is below 2.6.5 and New User Registration is enabled, system is vulnerable.

Check Version:

wp plugin list --name=bbpress --field=version

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm bbPress version is 2.6.5 or higher in WordPress admin panel.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • Unusual user role changes
  • Multiple failed registration attempts from single IP
  • Administrator account creation from unfamiliar IPs

Network Indicators:

  • HTTP POST requests to user registration endpoints with privilege escalation parameters

SIEM Query:

source="wordpress.log" AND ("user_role_changed" OR "new_user_registration") AND status="success"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2020-13693
CVSS v3 Score: 9.8 (CRITICAL)
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published: May 29, 2020
Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

📤 Share & Export

📄 Export Markdown 📋 Export JSON