CVE-2022-3930 in Directorist Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/12/2022
The Directorist WordPress plugin before 7.4.2.2 suffers from an IDOR vulnerability which an attacker can exploit to change the password of arbitrary users instead of his own.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/23/2025
The CVE-2022-3930 vulnerability represents a critical insecure direct object reference flaw within the Directorist WordPress plugin ecosystem, affecting versions prior to 7.4.2.2. This vulnerability resides in the plugin's user management functionality and stems from inadequate authorization checks during password modification operations. The flaw allows authenticated attackers to manipulate the password change endpoint by simply altering the target user identifier parameter, effectively bypassing normal access controls that should restrict users to modifying only their own account information. This issue fundamentally undermines the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a classic IDOR weakness that has been catalogued under CWE-639 as an authorization flaw. The vulnerability operates at the application level and specifically targets the plugin's administrative user management interface, where the system fails to validate whether the requesting user has legitimate authorization to modify the account specified in the request parameters.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it provides attackers with the ability to gain unauthorized access to arbitrary user accounts within the Directorist platform. An attacker who has gained access to a legitimate user account can exploit this flaw to change passwords for other users, potentially compromising multiple user sessions and gaining persistent access to the platform. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers valid accounts and T1566.002 which involves credential access through social engineering and manipulation of authentication systems. The flaw enables attackers to perform account takeover operations that could lead to complete compromise of user data, including personal information, listings, and any other content managed through the Directorist plugin. The vulnerability's exploitation requires minimal technical skill and can be automated, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple users maintain accounts with varying levels of access and data sensitivity.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-3930 should prioritize immediate patching of the Directorist plugin to version 7.4.2.2 or later, which includes proper authorization validation mechanisms. Organizations should implement additional security controls such as monitoring for unusual password change patterns and implementing multi-factor authentication to reduce the impact of credential compromise. Network segmentation and access control measures can help limit the blast radius of successful exploitation attempts. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all installed WordPress plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities and ensure proper input validation and authorization checks are implemented throughout the application stack. The vulnerability highlights the importance of following secure coding practices including parameter validation, proper access control implementation, and regular security assessments of third-party components. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious requests attempting to manipulate object references and ensure that all user interactions with sensitive functions are properly authenticated and authorized through robust session management mechanisms.