CVE-2024-5639 – The User Profile Picture WordPress plugin has a... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2024-5639?

CVE-2024-5639 has a CVSS score of 4.3 (MEDIUM). The User Profile Picture WordPress plugin has an Insecure Direct Object Reference vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers with Author-level permissions or higher to change any user's profile picture. This affects all plugin versions up to and including 2.6.1. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-controlled parameters in the 'rest_api_change_profile_image' function.

📋 TL;DR

The User Profile Picture WordPress plugin has an Insecure Direct Object Reference vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers with Author-level permissions or higher to change any user's profile picture. This affects all plugin versions up to and including 2.6.1. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient validation of user-controlled parameters in the 'rest_api_change_profile_image' function.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

User Profile Picture WordPress plugin

Versions: All versions up to and including 2.6.1

Operating Systems: Any OS running WordPress

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Requires WordPress installation with the vulnerable plugin enabled and at least one user with Author-level permissions.

📦 What is this software?

User Profile Picture by Cozmoslabs

View all CVEs affecting User Profile Picture →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Attackers could change administrator profile pictures to inappropriate content, potentially damaging reputation or enabling social engineering attacks.

🟠

Likely Case

Author-level users changing other users' profile pictures without authorization, causing confusion or minor disruption.

🟢

If Mitigated

Limited to profile picture changes only, no data theft or system compromise.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: UNKNOWN

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: LOW

Exploitation requires authenticated access with at least Author-level permissions. The vulnerability is in a REST API endpoint.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 2.6.2 or later

Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3105132/

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'User Profile Picture' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available, or download version 2.6.2+ from WordPress repository. 5. Activate the updated plugin.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable vulnerable plugin

all

Temporarily deactivate the User Profile Picture plugin until patched

wp plugin deactivate metronet-profile-picture

Restrict user permissions

all

Temporarily reduce Author-level users to lower privilege roles

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Implement web application firewall rules to block requests to the vulnerable REST endpoint
Monitor user profile changes and audit logs for unauthorized modifications

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check plugin version in WordPress admin under Plugins → Installed Plugins. If version is 2.6.1 or lower, you are vulnerable.

Check Version:

wp plugin get metronet-profile-picture --field=version

Verify Fix Applied:

After updating, verify plugin version shows 2.6.2 or higher in WordPress admin panel.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Multiple profile picture update requests from same user ID targeting different user IDs
REST API calls to /wp-json/metronet-profile-picture/v1/change-profile-image with modified user parameters

Network Indicators:

POST requests to /wp-json/metronet-profile-picture/v1/change-profile-image with unexpected user_id parameters

SIEM Query:

source="wordpress" AND uri_path="/wp-json/metronet-profile-picture/v1/change-profile-image" AND http_method="POST"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2024-5639

CVSS v3 Score: 4.3 (MEDIUM)

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

CWE: CWE-639

Published: June 21, 2024

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

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