Security Resilience

CVE-2024-13556

RCE in Wecantrack Affiliate Links ≤ 3.1.0

Published
18 February 2025
Modified
21 February 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0059 47th percentile
Risk Priority 64 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-2024-13556 is a high-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Wecantrack Affiliate Links. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); 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-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-2024-13556 is a PHP Object Injection vulnerability affecting the Affiliate Links: WordPress Plugin for Link Cloaking and Link Management in all versions up to and including 3.0.1. The issue arises from deserialization of untrusted input via a file export feature, enabling attackers to inject a PHP Object. It is associated with CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) and CWE-502 (Deserialization of Untrusted Data), with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with high attack complexity and no user interaction required. While the injection itself is possible, the vulnerable plugin contains no known Property-Oriented Programming (POP) chain, limiting impact unless another plugin or theme on the site provides one. In such cases, exploitation could allow arbitrary file deletion, sensitive data retrieval, or code execution, depending on the available POP chain.

Mitigation details are available in advisories from Wordfence and the WordPress plugin trac repository, including changeset 3238736 for the affiliate-links plugin, which addresses the deserialization issue. Security practitioners should update the plugin beyond version 3.0.1 and review co-installed plugins or themes for potential POP chains.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The Affiliate Links: WordPress Plugin for Link Cloaking and Link Management plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 via deserialization of untrusted input from an file export. This makes it…

more

possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software, which means this vulnerability has no impact unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control
Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.
T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access
Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.
T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
T1006 Direct Volume Access Stealth
Adversaries may directly access a volume to bypass file access controls and file system monitoring.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-7756Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-11125Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-5410Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-8814Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-9747Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-8505Shared CWE-862
CVE-2024-11743Shared CWE-862
CVE-2025-7078Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-47870Shared CWE-862
CVE-2023-46212Shared CWE-862

Affected Assets

wecantrack
affiliate links
≤ 3.1.0

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.

Developer testing and evaluation can uncover deserialization flaws before deployment.

Input validation directly stops deserialization of untrusted data by ensuring inputs are valid before processing.

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

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.PS-02 none match
blocks

PR.PS-02 addresses only post-deployment updates/patching and cannot prevent introduction of unsafe deserialization code, yet it can remediate some instances when the flaw exists in outdated libraries or components.

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
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.

removes
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.

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