Limit Login Attempts (Spam Protection) <= 2.8 — Missing Authorization to Arbitrary Plugin Installation/Activation
CVE-2021-24194Published · Updated Action summary
Affected: <2.9Update to 2.9 or newer
All remediation steps- Severity
- High8.8
- CVSS
- 8.8CVSS 3.1 · CNA (Wordfence)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HWhat does this vector mean?
AV:NAttack vector- Network
AC:LAttack complexity- Low
PR:LPrivileges required- Low
UI:NUser interaction- None
S:UScope- Unchanged
C:HConfidentiality- High
I:HIntegrity- High
A:HAvailability- High
- Weakness
- CWE-285 Improper Authorization
- Required access
- Unknown
- Exploit prediction (EPSS)
- No score
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
On this page8
Am I affected?
Limit Login Attempts (Spam Protection) wp-limit-failed-login-attempts
- Affected< 2.9
- Patched in2.9
Update to 2.9 or newer.
You are affected if you run < 2.9. Version 2.9 and later are not affected by this issue.
- Check your version: in wp-admin go to Plugins → Installed Plugins and read the version under Limit Login Attempts (Spam Protection).
- No admin access? Run a passive check of your site. It reads public files only.
What to do
- Update to version 2.9, or a newer patched version
- Rotate administrator passwords and application secrets if the site ran a vulnerable version while publicly reachable.
- Watch Limit Login Attempts (Spam Protection) to get an email when the next vulnerability is published.
Advisory
Source description from Wordfence Intelligence, credited to Bugbang.
Low privileged users can use the AJAX action 'cp_plugins_do_button_job_later_callback' in the Login Protection - Limit Failed Login Attempts WordPress plugin before 2.9, to install any plugin (including a specific version) from the WordPress repository, as well as activate arbitrary plugin from the blog, which helps attackers install vulnerable plugins and could lead to more critical vulnerabilities like RCE.
Exploits & references
Proof-of-concept & detection
No public proof-of-concept or detection template is known for this vulnerability.
Advisories & patches
- Advisorywordfence.com
Related CVEs
More in Limit Login Attempts (Spam Protection)
All 5| Severity | Vulnerability | CVE | Published |
|---|---|---|---|
| High7.5 | Unauthenticated SQL Injeciton ≤5.5Update to 5.6 | CVE-2024-54234 | |
| Medium5.3 | IP Address Spoofing to Protection Mechanism Bypass ≤5.3Update to 5.4 | CVE-2022-4534 | |
| Critical9.8 | Unauthenticated SQL Injection ≤4.9.1Update to 5.1 | CVE-2022-0787 | |
| High8.8 | Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Plugin Installation/Activation ≤2.9Update to 3.1 | — |
- High7.5Unauthenticated SQL Injeciton
≤5.5Update to 5.6
- Medium5.3IP Address Spoofing to Protection Mechanism Bypass
≤5.3Update to 5.4
- Critical9.8Unauthenticated SQL Injection
≤4.9.1Update to 5.1
- High8.8Cross-Site Request Forgery to Arbitrary Plugin Installation/Activation
≤2.9Update to 3.1
Timeline
CVE published
Severity high, CVSS 8.8
Record last updated
Sources & licenses
Wordfence record- Vulnerability data
- Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. Licensed under the CC BY-SA 4.0.
- CVE® identifiers
- Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. Used under the CVE Program. CVE® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
- CVSS / CWE
- National Vulnerability Database (NVD), shown unmodified. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
- VulnCrest content
- Summary, remediation guidance and page layout © VulnCrest. Not sourced from NVD.