CVE-2024-10529 – The Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin has ... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2024-10529?

CVE-2024-10529 has a CVSS score of 5.3 (MEDIUM). The Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin has a missing capability check in the delete_assistant() function, allowing authenticated users with subscriber-level access or higher to delete GPT assistants. This affects all WordPress sites running plugin versions up to and including 2.1.7.

📋 TL;DR

The Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin has a missing capability check in the delete_assistant() function, allowing authenticated users with subscriber-level access or higher to delete GPT assistants. This affects all WordPress sites running plugin versions up to and including 2.1.7.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress

Versions: All versions up to and including 2.1.7

Operating Systems: All operating systems running WordPress

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Requires WordPress installation with the vulnerable plugin enabled. Any authenticated user (subscriber role or higher) can exploit this vulnerability.

📦 What is this software?

Kognetiks Chatbot by Kognetiks

View all CVEs affecting Kognetiks Chatbot →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Malicious authenticated users could delete all GPT assistants, disrupting chatbot functionality and potentially causing business impact if assistants contain important configurations.

🟠

Likely Case

Low-privilege users deleting assistants they shouldn't have access to, causing service disruption and requiring administrator intervention to restore.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact if proper user access controls and monitoring are in place to detect unauthorized deletion attempts.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires authenticated access but is technically simple - just calling the vulnerable function without proper authorization checks.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 2.1.8

Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3183413/chatbot-chatgpt/trunk/includes/utilities/chatbot-assistants.php

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress' and click 'Update Now'. 4. Verify the plugin version is now 2.1.8 or higher.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Temporary Plugin Deactivation

all

Disable the vulnerable plugin until patched

wp plugin deactivate chatbot-chatgpt

Restrict User Roles

all

Temporarily restrict subscriber-level users from accessing the site

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement strict user access controls and monitor for unauthorized assistant deletion
Regularly backup GPT assistant configurations and maintain restore procedures

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Installed Plugins → Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress version

Check Version:

wp plugin get chatbot-chatgpt --field=version

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify plugin version is 2.1.8 or higher and test that only administrators can delete assistants

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unauthorized delete_assistant() function calls from non-admin users
Multiple assistant deletion attempts from single user

Network Indicators:

POST requests to chatbot assistant deletion endpoints from non-admin accounts

SIEM Query:

source="wordpress" AND (event="delete_assistant" OR message="*assistant*deleted*") AND user_role!="administrator"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2024-10529

CVSS v3 Score: 5.3 (MEDIUM)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CWE: CWE-862

Published: November 13, 2024

Last Updated: November 18, 2024

🔗 References

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🔗 Related Vulnerabilities

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