Security Resilience

CVE-2024-12544

Access Control

Published
01 March 2025
Modified
15 April 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 8.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0077 55th percentile
Risk Priority 69 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-2024-12544 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Wordpress (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 45% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — 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-2024-12544 affects the SurveyJS: Drag & Drop WordPress Form Builder plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 1.12.17. The vulnerability enables arbitrary file deletion due to a missing capability check in the callback function of the SurveyJS_DeleteFile class, corresponding to CWE-862 (Missing Authorization). It carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access or higher can exploit this issue to delete arbitrary files on the server. Targeting critical files such as wp-config.php can readily result in remote code execution.

Patches are available via WordPress plugin trac changesets 3214665 and 3222216/surveyjs/trunk/ajax_handlers/delete_file.php, with additional details in Wordfence threat intelligence at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e9404fe4-855e-4eb4-81c4-5246f6e9be0c?source=cve. However, the function remains vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery as of version 1.12.20.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The SurveyJS: Drag & Drop WordPress Form Builder to create, style and embed multiple forms of any complexity plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion due to a missing capability check on the callback function of the SurveyJS_DeleteFile…

more

class in all versions up to, and including, 1.12.17. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to delete arbitrary files on the server, which can easily lead to remote code execution when the right file is deleted (such as wp-config.php). This function is still vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery as of 1.12.20.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-32081Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-24633Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-38721Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-21133Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-53291Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-56066Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-1337Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-23190Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-46195Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-32593Shared CWE-862

Affected Assets

Wordpress
—
inferred from references and description; NVD did not file a CPE for this CVE

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally eliminating missing authorization checks.

AC-24 mandates that access control decisions are applied to each request, preventing bypass of authorization logic.

AC-25 requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that ensures authorization checks cannot be omitted.

AC-6 reduces the set of actions reachable without proper authorization, limiting blast radius of missing checks.

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.

blocks

Requiring formal authorization of every access request before rights are granted ensures that checks for required permissions are performed, preventing missing authorization checks from being introduced.

blocks

A.5.18's provisioning, review, revocation and activation steps (incl. owner approval, SoD, timely removal on role/termination change) directly stop exploitation of missing authorization checks by ensuring no actor receives or retains rights to resources they should not access; the bounded remainder is that it cannot stop missing-authorization defects inside the enforcement mechanism itself once rights have been granted (e.g. flawed code that ignores the rights table).

finds

By requiring competent outsiders to verify that every function enforces the need-to-know principle, the control lowers the likelihood that missing authorization checks persist undetected.

blocks

A.5.8 integrates risk assessment, requirements elicitation and governance into the project lifecycle so that authorization needs can be identified and specified; it does not itself perform or enforce authorization checks, so the missing-authorization weakness can still be present and exploitable.

blocks

Security checkpoints and explicit authorization requirements in the design phase ensure that every sensitive function is paired with an access-control check, reducing missing-authorization defects.

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (least privilege, default deny, security architecture integration, zero-trust never-trust/always-verify, dynamic access control) plus design reviews that directly specify and enforce authorization checks before access; this stops most missing-authorization cases from being exploitable, with a bounded remainder in non-architectural or legacy components where the principles were documented but not fully applied.

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-862, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.

References