CVE-2024-12008

Medium

Published: 14 January 2025

Published

14 January 2025

Modified

16 January 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 5.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

EPSS Score 0.3348 97.0th percentile

Risk Priority 31 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-12008 is a medium-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (CWE-200) vulnerability in Boldgrid W3 Total Cache. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 3.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-22 (Publicly Accessible Content) and SC-14 (Public Access Protections).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

AC-22 Publicly Accessible Content good match

prevent

Directly controls risks from publicly accessible content by preventing exposure of sensitive information like debug logs containing nonces.

SC-14 Public Access Protections good match

prevent

Provides protections against unauthorized public access to web-exposed resources such as the plugin's debug log file.

CM-7 Least Functionality partial match

prevent

Enforces least functionality by disabling unnecessary features like debug logging, which must be enabled for the exposure to occur.

NVD Description

The W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Information Exposure in all versions up to, and including, 2.8.1 through the publicly exposed debug log file. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to view potentially sensitive information in…

the exposed log file. For example, the log file may contain nonce values that can be used in further CSRF attacks. Note: the debug feature must be enabled for this to be a concern, and it is disabled by default.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2024-12008 is an information exposure vulnerability (CWE-200) in the W3 Total Cache plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 2.8.1. The issue stems from a publicly exposed debug log file that allows unauthorized access to potentially sensitive information logged within it. The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N), rated as medium severity, and was published on 2025-01-14.

Unauthenticated attackers with network access can exploit this vulnerability with low complexity and no user interaction required. Successful exploitation enables reading low-impact confidential data from the exposed log file, such as nonce values that could be leveraged in subsequent CSRF attacks. Notably, the debug feature must be enabled for the log file to be exposed and relevant, and it is disabled by default.

Advisories reference specific code locations in the plugin, including Util_Debug.php at line 29 and Util_Environment.php at line 430 in version 2.8.0, as well as a Wordfence threat intelligence report detailing the issue. Mitigation relies on ensuring the debug feature remains disabled, with practitioners advised to review and update the plugin to versions beyond 2.8.1 where available to address the exposure.