CVE-2024-12470
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2024-12470 is a critical-severity Incorrect Privilege Assignment (CWE-266) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Valid Accounts (T1078); ranked at the 47th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-6 (Least Privilege) and AC-2 (Account Management) — 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.
CVE-2024-12470 is a privilege escalation vulnerability in the School Management System – SakolaWP plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.0.8. The issue arises because the plugin's registration function does not properly restrict the roles that users can select during signup, mapped to CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment). It carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating critical severity due to its network accessibility and high potential impact.
Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely without privileges or user interaction. By accessing the registration endpoint, they can choose an administrative role during signup, gaining immediate admin access to the WordPress site. This enables full control, including data exfiltration, modification, or deletion, as well as potential deployment of further malware.
Advisories from Wordfence and the plugin's WordPress.org listing provide further details on the issue. Mitigation requires updating to a version beyond 1.0.8, where the registration role restrictions have been addressed. Security practitioners should scan environments for the vulnerable plugin versions and apply updates promptly.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-50882
Vulnerability Data
The School Management System – SakolaWP plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to privilege escalation in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.8. This is due to the registration function not properly limiting what roles a user can register as. This…
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makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to register as an administrative user.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 8 hardening rules · 6 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Least privilege directly requires that only the minimal necessary privileges are assigned to each actor.
Account management defines and authorizes the exact privileges granted to each account or role.
Enforces only the authorizations that were assigned, so correct assignment is a prerequisite.
Separation of duties constrains which privilege combinations may be assigned to any actor.
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.
Directly enforces least-privilege policy definition, management, and review that prevents incorrect privilege assignments.
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.
The access-rights control governs the entire lifecycle of privilege assignment, directly eliminating incorrect assignments.
Privileged-access-rights control explicitly requires least-privilege assignment and ongoing validation, directly mitigating CWE-266.
Access control policy directly prevents incorrect privilege assignment by defining who may receive which rights.
Segregation of duties reduces blast radius of any single incorrect privilege but does not prevent the assignment itself.
Restricting privileged utility programs limits exposure from over-privileged accounts but does not address how privileges are assigned.
Information-access-restriction mechanisms enforce the correct privilege boundaries once assignment rules are defined.
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` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248551 A sticky bit must be set on all OL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
- V-271779 OL 9 must be configured so that a sticky bit must be set on all public directories. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230243 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 8 public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257929 A sticky bit must be set on all RHEL 9 public directories. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 22.04 (2 rules)
- V-260513 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266
- V-260559 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
Ubuntu 24.04 (2 rules)
- V-270748 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must ensure only users who need access to security functions are part of sudo group. prevents CWE-266
- V-270750 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS must set a sticky bit on all public directories to prevent unauthorized and unintended information transferred via shared system resources. prevents CWE-266