CVE-2024-13439
📋 TL;DR
The Team – Team Members Showcase Plugin for WordPress has a missing capability check in its response() function, allowing authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or higher to update plugin settings. This vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 4.4.9, potentially enabling unauthorized configuration changes.
💻 Affected Systems
- Team – Team Members Showcase Plugin for WordPress
📦 What is this software?
Team by Techlabpro
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could modify plugin settings to inject malicious code, redirect users, or disable security features, potentially leading to site compromise or data leakage.
Likely Case
Attackers with subscriber accounts could alter plugin configurations, causing display issues, injecting ads, or disrupting team member showcases.
If Mitigated
With proper access controls and monitoring, impact is limited to minor configuration changes that can be quickly reverted.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is straightforward once an attacker has valid credentials.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 4.5.0 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3239948/tlp-team/trunk/app/Controllers/Admin/Ajax/Settings.php
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Team – Team Members Showcase' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available, or manually update to version 4.5.0+. 5. Verify update completes successfully.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Temporary Plugin Deactivation
allDisable the vulnerable plugin until patched version is available.
wp plugin deactivate tlp-team
Restrict User Roles
allTemporarily limit creation of Subscriber accounts or review existing ones.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Monitor WordPress audit logs for unauthorized plugin setting changes
- Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious AJAX requests to plugin endpoints
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check plugin version in WordPress admin under Plugins → Installed Plugins. If version is 4.4.9 or lower, it's vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get tlp-team --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After update, confirm plugin version shows 4.5.0 or higher in WordPress admin panel.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unauthorized POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters related to tlp-team plugin settings
Network Indicators:
- Suspicious AJAX requests from non-admin users to plugin admin endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND "admin-ajax.php" AND "tlp-team" AND ("action=saveSettings" OR "action=updateSettings")🔗 References
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/tlp-team/tags/4.4.7/app/Controllers/Admin/Ajax/Settings.php
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3239948/tlp-team/trunk/app/Controllers/Admin/Ajax/Settings.php
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3239948/tlp-team/trunk/app/Controllers/Admin/Ajax/Skill.php
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?sfp_email=&sfph_mail=&reponame=&old=3239948%40tlp-team&new=3239948%40tlp-team&sfp_email=&sfph_mail=
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/46951d8d-f8f1-4fb5-b02a-1a19edd154e6?source=cve
