Security Resilience

CVE-2024-11680

Access Control in Projectsend ≤ r1720

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCAccess Control
Published
26 November 2024
Modified
14 July 2026
KEV Added
03 December 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.92 99.8th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2024-11680 is a critical-severity Missing Authentication for Critical Function (CWE-306) vulnerability in Projectsend Projectsend. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique System Service Discovery (T1007); ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-14 (Permitted Actions Without Identification or Authentication) and IA-2 (Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users)) — 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.

ProjectSend versions prior to r1720 contain an improper authentication vulnerability tracked as CVE-2024-11680. The flaw resides in the options.php endpoint and stems from missing authentication checks, allowing remote attackers to alter application configuration settings without any credentials. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.8 and is classified under CWE-306.

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit the weakness by submitting specially crafted HTTP requests to options.php. Successful exploitation grants the ability to create new administrative accounts, upload webshells, and inject arbitrary JavaScript into the application, resulting in full compromise of the affected instance.

Public references, including the official ProjectSend commit and the Synacktiv advisory, indicate that the vulnerability is resolved in release r1720; administrators should upgrade immediately. Detection templates for Nuclei and an exploit module in Metasploit Framework are also available, while the EPSS score remains elevated above 0.93.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ProjectSend versions prior to r1720 are affected by an improper authentication vulnerability. Remote, unauthenticated attackers can exploit this flaw by sending crafted HTTP requests to options.php, enabling unauthorized modification of the application's configuration. Successful exploitation allows attackers to create accounts,…

more

upload webshells, and embed malicious JavaScript.

CWE(s)
KEV Date Added
03 December 2024

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.
T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.
T1027.004 Compile After Delivery Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to make payloads difficult to discover and analyze by delivering files to victims as uncompiled code.
T1027.006 HTML Smuggling Stealth
Adversaries may smuggle data and files past content filters by hiding malicious payloads inside of seemingly benign HTML files.
T1027.007 Dynamic API Resolution Stealth
Adversaries may obfuscate then dynamically resolve API functions called by their malware in order to conceal malicious functionalities and impair defensive analysis.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-53905Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2023-53980Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2023-0607Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2023-53906Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2024-7658Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2023-53930Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2024-7659Same product: Projectsend Projectsend
CVE-2023-36847Shared CWE-306both on KEV
CVE-2023-27532Shared CWE-306both on KEV
CVE-2026-24423Shared CWE-306both on KEV

Affected Assets

projectsend
projectsend
≤ r1720

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V6.2.3
  • V6.4.4
  • V10.4.16
  • V12.1.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Directly mandates unique identification and authentication of users before access to functions requiring identity.

Extends the same authentication requirement to non-organizational users accessing critical functionality.

Requires authentication of services before they can invoke or expose critical functions.

Explicitly identifies and limits actions permitted without authentication, preventing critical functions from being exposed.

Access enforcement requires prior authentication before any authorization decision for critical functions.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-01 partial match
blocks

Managing identities and credentials is a prerequisite for authentication but does not itself enforce it on critical functions.

PR.AA-03 partial match
blocks

Directly requires authentication of users/services/hardware, which eliminates missing authentication for critical functions.

PR.AA-05 partial match
blocks

Defining and enforcing authorizations assumes prior authentication and therefore only partially mitigates the absence of authentication.

PR.IR-01 partial match
blocks

Protecting networks from unauthorized access can be undermined by missing authentication but does not address the root authentication gap.

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.

removes
removes
removes
blocks

Mandating authentication requirements for critical functions at the requirements-gathering stage ensures that essential operations are not left unprotected by missing login or verification mechanisms.

removes

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248585 OL 8 must require reauthentication when using the "sudo" command. blocks CWE-306
  • V-248827 OL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-306
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204442 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-306
  • V-237635 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must require re-authentication when using the "sudo" command. blocks CWE-306
RHEL 8 (2 rules)
  • V-230492 RHEL 8 must not have the rsh-server package installed. blocks CWE-306
  • V-237643 RHEL 8 must require re-authentication when using the "sudo" command. blocks CWE-306

References