CVE-2024-8247: newsletters vulnerability

What is known

The Newsletters plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 4.9.9.2. This is due to the plugin not restricting what user meta can be updated as screen options. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to escalate their privileges to that of an administrator. Please note that this only affects users with access to edit/update screen options, which means an administrator would need to grant lower privilege users with access to the Sent & Draft Emails page of the plugin in order for this to be exploited.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2024-8247, a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.8) affecting newsletters, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether newsletters is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference