CVE-2024-12027
📋 TL;DR
The Message Filter for Contact Form 7 WordPress plugin has an authorization vulnerability that allows authenticated users with subscriber-level access or higher to modify or delete message filters. This affects all WordPress sites using the plugin up to version 1.6.3.
💻 Affected Systems
- Message Filter for Contact Form 7 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 delete all message filters, disrupting contact form functionality and potentially enabling spam or malicious content submission through forms.
Likely Case
Low-privilege users could tamper with message filtering rules, allowing unwanted content through contact forms or disrupting legitimate filtering.
If Mitigated
With proper user access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to potential filter rule manipulation by authorized users.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is technically simple - just calling vulnerable functions without proper authorization checks.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.6.4
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/cf7-message-filter/#developers
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel
2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
3. Find 'Message Filter for Contact Form 7'
4. Click 'Update Now' if available
5. Or download version 1.6.4+ from WordPress repository and manually update
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Plugin Deactivation
allDeactivate the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate cf7-message-filter
Restrict User Roles
allTemporarily restrict subscriber and higher roles from accessing WordPress admin
Use WordPress role management plugins or custom code to restrict access
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict user access controls and monitor for unauthorized filter changes
- Use web application firewall rules to block suspicious POST requests to plugin endpoints
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check plugin version in WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed PluginsCheck Version:
wp plugin get cf7-message-filter --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 1.6.4 or higher after update📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=updateFilter or action=deleteFilter
- Unexpected filter modifications by non-admin users
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax endpoints with filter manipulation parameters
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("action=updateFilter" OR "action=deleteFilter") AND user_role!="administrator"