CVE-2024-11290
📋 TL;DR
The Member Access WordPress plugin up to version 1.1.6 allows unauthenticated attackers to bypass content restrictions via WordPress core search functionality. This exposes sensitive posts intended for administrators or other privileged roles to anyone. All WordPress sites using vulnerable plugin versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- WordPress Member Access plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers extract sensitive administrative information, credentials, or confidential content intended only for privileged users, potentially leading to full site compromise.
Likely Case
Unauthenticated users access restricted posts containing sensitive operational information, user data, or internal communications.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to information disclosure of non-critical restricted content.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires only standard WordPress search functionality; no special tools needed.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.1.7 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/member-access/#developers
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Member Access' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update available. 5. If no update appears, manually download version 1.1.7+ from WordPress repository and replace plugin files.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable WordPress Search
allTemporarily disable WordPress core search functionality to prevent exploitation.
Add to theme functions.php: add_action('pre_get_posts', function($query) { if ($query->is_search() && $query->is_main_query()) { $query->set('post__in', array(0)); } });
Deactivate Plugin
linuxTemporarily deactivate Member Access plugin until patched.
wp plugin deactivate member-access
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious search patterns targeting restricted content.
- Monitor WordPress search logs for unusual activity targeting posts with access restrictions.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel > Plugins > Installed Plugins for Member Access version 1.1.6 or earlier.Check Version:
wp plugin get member-access --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm Member Access plugin version is 1.1.7 or later in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual search queries from unauthenticated users returning restricted post IDs
- Multiple search requests targeting specific post titles or content known to be restricted
Network Indicators:
- HTTP GET requests to /?s= containing terms matching restricted content
- Unusual search parameter patterns in WordPress search endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress_access.log" | search "GET /?s=" | stats count by src_ip