CVE-2024-11851
📋 TL;DR
The NitroPack WordPress plugin has an authorization vulnerability that allows authenticated users with subscriber-level access or higher to modify arbitrary WordPress transients (temporary cached data). This affects all NitroPack plugin versions up to and including 1.17.0 on WordPress sites.
💻 Affected Systems
- NitroPack WordPress 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 could manipulate transients to disrupt plugin functionality, cause denial of service, or interfere with other plugins/themes that rely on transients for critical operations.
Likely Case
Limited impact since transients can only be set to integer values, but could still be used to disrupt caching, break plugin functionality, or cause minor site instability.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is minimal as the vulnerability requires authenticated access and only affects integer transient values.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access to WordPress with at least subscriber privileges. The vulnerability is straightforward to exploit once authenticated.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.17.1
Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3211235/nitropack
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel
2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins
3. Find NitroPack plugin
4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available
5. Alternatively, download version 1.17.1+ from WordPress plugin repository
6. Deactivate old version and upload new version via FTP if needed
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Access Restriction
allTemporarily restrict subscriber-level user creation and review existing subscriber accounts
Plugin Deactivation
linuxDeactivate NitroPack plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate nitropack
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict user role management and review all subscriber-level accounts
- Monitor WordPress transient modifications in logs and implement alerting for suspicious activity
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → NitroPack version. If version is 1.17.0 or lower, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get nitropack --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify NitroPack plugin version is 1.17.1 or higher in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual transient modification patterns in WordPress debug logs
- Multiple transient updates from subscriber-level accounts
Network Indicators:
- POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php with nitropack_rml_notification action
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "nitropack_rml_notification" AND user_role="subscriber"