Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-2098

Access Control in W3Eden Download Manager ≤ 3.2.90

Access Control
Published
13 June 2024
Modified
08 April 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
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:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0045 37th percentile
Risk Priority 61 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-2098 is a high-severity Authentication Bypass by Alternate Name (CWE-289) vulnerability in W3Eden Download Manager. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 37th 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.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access ControlA07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The Download Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of data due to an improper authorization check on the 'protectMediaLibrary' function in all versions up to, and including, 3.2.89. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to download…

more

password-protected files.

CWE(s)
CWE-289CWE-863

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.
attack.mitre.org →
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-11768Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2024-56217Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2023-6785Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2025-1785Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2024-11740Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2024-5266Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2023-2305Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2024-8284Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2024-8444Same product: W3Eden Download Manager
CVE-2023-6954Same product: W3Eden Download Manager

Affected Assets

w3eden
download manager
≤ 3.2.90

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 13 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V8.3.3
  • V10.3.2
  • V6.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 Access Enforcement good match

AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.

IA-2 Identification and Authentication (Organizational Users) good match

Requiring unique identification and authentication of users forces the system to resolve all name variants to a single identity before access is granted.

AC-24 Access Control Decisions good match

AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.

AC-25 Reference Monitor good match

A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.

IA-4 Identifier Management good match

Identifier management directly requires authorization and uniqueness checks that eliminate alternate-name aliases for the same actor or resource.

AC-6 Least Privilege partial match

Least-privilege assignments shrink the set of authorizations that must be checked correctly, limiting exposure to flawed 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.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Strong authentication mechanisms directly prevent name-based bypass when they enforce canonical name checks.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

PR.AA-01 partial match
prevents

Proper identity management reduces alternate-name collisions but does not guarantee canonicalization inside the auth decision.

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.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access-control policy can mandate canonical-name checks but does not prescribe the technical implementation.

A.5.16 Identity management partial match
prevents

Identity-management processes can require unique, canonical identifiers, reducing alternate-name bypass risk.

A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
degrades

Proper management of authentication credentials can include rules against duplicate or alias identities.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
prevents

Access-rights provisioning can enforce canonical-name validation when granting rights.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
prevents

Information-access-restriction mechanisms can implement canonical-name checks to prevent bypass.

A.8.5 Secure authentication partial match
prevents

Secure-authentication controls can require canonical identifiers and reject alternate names.

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 (3 rules)
  • V-248538 OL 8 operating systems booted with United Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) must have a unique name for the grub superusers account when booting into single-user mode and maintenance. prevents CWE-289
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-244558 Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems version 7.2 or newer booted with United Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) must have a unique name for the grub superusers account when booting into single-user mode and maintenance. prevents CWE-289
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863

References