CVE-2024-49256: WP Chill Htaccess File Editor Auth Bypass

CVE-2024-49256 Overview

CVE-2024-49256 is a broken access control vulnerability in the WP Chill Htaccess File Editor plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions up to and including 1.0.18. Authenticated attackers with low privileges can access functionality that should be restricted by access control lists (ACLs). Because the plugin edits the .htaccess file, exploitation gives attackers control over web server configuration directives on the target site. The issue is classified under CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization.

Critical Impact
Low-privileged WordPress users can read and modify the site's .htaccess file, enabling redirects, request rewriting, and potential full site compromise.

Affected Products

WP Chill Htaccess File Editor plugin for WordPress
All versions from n/a through 1.0.18
WordPress sites with the htaccess-file-editor plugin installed and active

Discovery Timeline

2024-11-01 - CVE-2024-49256 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-49256

Vulnerability Analysis

The Htaccess File Editor plugin exposes administrative functionality for reading and writing the WordPress site's .htaccess file. The plugin fails to enforce proper capability checks on the endpoints that perform these actions. As a result, authenticated users who should not have administrator-level privileges can invoke the editor and modify server rewrite rules, redirects, and access directives.

Control over .htaccess is equivalent to control over how Apache serves the site. An attacker can chain this access with other techniques to escalate privileges, deploy web shells, hijack traffic, or bypass WordPress security plugins that rely on .htaccess protections.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or incorrect authorization checks on the plugin's file editing handlers. The plugin verifies that a request comes from an authenticated user, but does not restrict the action to users with the manage_options or equivalent administrator capability. This is a classic Broken Access Control pattern in WordPress plugins that expose privileged AJAX or admin-post actions without a matching current_user_can() gate.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is remote and requires only a low-privileged authenticated account, such as a Subscriber or Contributor. The attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the plugin's editor endpoint with the modified .htaccess content in the request body. On success, the server writes the attacker-supplied content to the site's .htaccess file. The attacker can then insert rewrite rules that redirect visitors to malicious hosts, force execution of uploaded files as PHP, or block security tooling by denying access to plugin directories.

No public proof-of-concept is listed in the referenced advisory. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-49256

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to the WordPress site's .htaccess file, especially new RewriteRule, Redirect, or AddHandler directives.
HTTP POST requests to plugin admin-post or AJAX endpoints associated with htaccess-file-editor from accounts that are not administrators.
New PHP handler mappings, wildcard redirects to external domains, or rules that grant access to wp-admin from specific IPs.

Detection Strategies

Compare the current .htaccess against a known-good baseline stored in version control or backups. Alert on any diff.
Review WordPress access logs for authenticated requests to admin-ajax.php or admin-post.php referencing the htaccess-file-editor plugin from non-admin user sessions.
Enumerate installed plugins across the estate and flag any host running htaccess-file-editor at version 1.0.18 or earlier.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable file integrity monitoring on .htaccess, wp-config.php, and the WordPress root directory.
Ingest WordPress and web server logs into a centralized analytics platform and alert on writes to .htaccess outside change windows.
Track privilege usage: any low-role user triggering plugin admin endpoints is a high-fidelity signal for this class of flaw.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-49256

Immediate Actions Required

Identify all WordPress instances running the htaccess-file-editor plugin at version 1.0.18 or earlier.
Deactivate and remove the plugin on affected sites until a patched version is confirmed available and installed.
Restore .htaccess from a trusted backup if unauthorized changes are detected, then rotate WordPress user credentials and secret keys.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the advisory lists all versions through 1.0.18 as affected and no fixed version is identified in the enriched data. Monitor the Patchstack Vulnerability Report and the WordPress plugin repository for an updated release from WP Chill. Apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available.

Workarounds

Remove the htaccess-file-editor plugin and manage .htaccess directly through SFTP or the hosting control panel, restricted to administrators.
Restrict WordPress registration and audit existing low-privilege accounts. Remove unused Subscriber, Contributor, and Author accounts.
Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks requests to the plugin's admin endpoints from sessions lacking the administrator role.
Set the .htaccess file to read-only at the filesystem level where operationally feasible, forcing changes through an out-of-band process.

bash

# Locate WordPress sites running the vulnerable plugin
find /var/www -type d -name 'htaccess-file-editor' -print

# Check plugin version from the plugin header
grep -R "Version:" /var/www/*/wp-content/plugins/htaccess-file-editor/*.php

# Restrict .htaccess to read-only after applying a known-good copy
chmod 444 /var/www/example.com/.htaccess