CVE-2024-10781
Cleantalk Spam Protection\, Antispam\, Firewall ≤ 6.45
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2024-10781 is a high-severity Improper Check or Handling of Exceptional Conditions (CWE-703) vulnerability in Cleantalk Spam Protection\, Antispam\, Firewall. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).
Operationally, ranked in the top 10% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-24 (Fail in Known State) and SI-17 (Fail-safe Procedures) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized arbitrary plugin installation in all versions through 6.44. The flaw stems from a missing empty-value check on the api_key parameter inside the perform function, allowing the plugin to process remote calls without proper validation.
Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the issue over the network to install and activate arbitrary WordPress plugins. Successful exploitation can be chained with other vulnerable plugins to obtain remote code execution on the affected site.
Public references point to a fix committed in changeset 3188546 that addresses the api_key handling, and Wordfence has published corresponding threat intelligence for the vulnerability.
EPSS scores rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1189 on 2025-12-11 before receding, indicating a clear post-disclosure increase in exploitation interest.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-33455
Vulnerability Data
The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to an missing empty value check on the 'api_key' value in the 'perform' function in all versions up to, and including, 6.44.…
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This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to achieve remote code execution if another vulnerable plugin is installed and activated.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Enforces failure to a known state while preserving required properties, limiting impact of unhandled exceptions.
Mandates explicit fail-safe procedures triggered by indicated failures, structurally preventing unhandled exceptional conditions.
Requires application of security engineering principles that include robust exception and error handling during design.
Requires generation of safe, actionable error messages that directly addresses proper handling of exceptional conditions.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
A.8.26 only requires that security requirements (including resilience against attacks like SQL injection) be identified and specified during development or acquisition; it does not itself remove, fix, or eliminate any exceptional-condition handling defects already present in code.
A.8.28 mandates secure coding practices, principles, defect removal during coding/review, and prohibiting insecure techniques that directly produce improper exception handling; this removes most instances of the first-party code defect, with a bounded remainder in incomplete adoption or edge-case defects not captured by the baseline.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.
- No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-703, a pillar-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.