CVE-2023-46188 in Freesoul Deactivate Plugins Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 01/02/2025
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Jose Mortellaro Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Plugin manager and cleanup allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Freesoul Deactivate Plugins – Plugin manager and cleanup: from n/a through 2.1.3.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/02/2025
The CVE-2023-46188 vulnerability represents a critical authorization flaw within the Freesoul Deactivate Plugins WordPress plugin, specifically impacting versions ranging from the initial release through 2.1.3. This security weakness manifests as an incorrectly configured access control mechanism that permits unauthorized users to manipulate plugin management functions. The vulnerability exists within the plugin's administrative interface where users should be required to possess proper authorization levels to perform deactivation or cleanup operations. The flaw essentially allows attackers to bypass the intended access control restrictions that should typically require administrator privileges or equivalent permissions to execute plugin management tasks.
This missing authorization issue falls under the CWE-862 category of "Missing Authorization" which is a fundamental security weakness that occurs when a system fails to properly verify that an operation is authorized. The vulnerability directly impacts the principle of least privilege by allowing users without appropriate credentials to perform administrative functions that should be restricted to authorized personnel only. The attack vector typically involves an authenticated user who may not possess administrator-level privileges but can still leverage the misconfigured access controls to manipulate plugin states and potentially disrupt site functionality. The security implications extend beyond simple unauthorized access as this flaw could enable attackers to disable security plugins or critical site components, creating additional attack surface or system instability.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for WordPress installations utilizing the affected plugin version. Attackers who can exploit this weakness can potentially deactivate security plugins, disable essential site functionality, or manipulate the plugin management system to create persistent access points. This misconfiguration allows unauthorized users to perform cleanup operations that could result in data loss, service disruption, or the disabling of critical security measures. The vulnerability particularly affects sites where multiple user roles exist and proper access control enforcement is expected. From an attacker's perspective, this represents a low-effort, high-impact method to gain elevated privileges or cause service disruption within the WordPress environment.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004 which covers "Valid Accounts: Cloud Accounts" but in this case represents a failure in account validation rather than unauthorized account access. The vulnerability creates a scenario where legitimate users with insufficient privileges can perform actions that should require higher authorization levels, effectively undermining the security model. Organizations should consider implementing additional monitoring for plugin management activities, particularly unusual deactivation patterns or cleanup operations that occur outside normal maintenance windows. The remediation approach requires immediate plugin updates to version 2.1.4 or later where the authorization checks have been properly implemented. Security teams should also review existing access control configurations and implement proper privilege separation to ensure that administrative functions are properly restricted to authorized personnel only.
The technical implementation of the fix typically involves strengthening the access control checks within the plugin's administrative functions to properly validate user permissions before allowing any plugin management operations. This includes implementing proper capability checks that verify whether the current user possesses the necessary administrative privileges before executing deactivation or cleanup functions. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and access control implementation in web applications, particularly in content management systems where plugin functionality can significantly impact overall system security. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of their WordPress installations to identify similar authorization flaws in other plugins and themes, as this represents a common pattern in WordPress security vulnerabilities. The incident underscores the necessity of maintaining up-to-date security practices and the importance of implementing proper security controls during the development lifecycle to prevent such authorization bypass scenarios.