CVE-2024-50456 Overview
CVE-2024-50456 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Benjamin Denis SEOPress plugin (wp-seopress) for WordPress. The plugin fails to enforce proper access control checks on privileged actions, allowing authenticated users with low privileges to invoke functionality intended for administrators. The flaw affects all SEOPress versions up to and including 8.1.1. The weakness is classified under CWE-862: Missing Authorization. Successful exploitation impacts the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the WordPress installation.
Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with low-level access can bypass access controls in SEOPress to modify plugin settings and site metadata, compromising site integrity and content across affected WordPress installations.
Affected Products
- SEOPress WordPress plugin versions up to and including 8.1.1
- Benjamin Denis SEOPress (wp-seopress) — all releases prior to the fixed version
- WordPress sites running the vulnerable SEOPress plugin
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-10-29 - CVE CVE-2024-50456 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-50456
Vulnerability Analysis
The vulnerability originates from broken access control in SEOPress request handlers. Privileged plugin operations lack capability checks that would restrict them to administrators. Authenticated users holding low-level roles such as Subscriber or Contributor can invoke these endpoints and perform actions reserved for higher-privileged accounts. Exploitation requires network access and valid authentication but no user interaction. Because SEOPress governs site metadata, sitemaps, and content directives, unauthorized changes affect search visibility and site integrity.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing authorization enforcement on plugin actions. The affected code paths validate that a request is authenticated but do not verify the caller's role or capability with WordPress functions such as current_user_can(). This mapping to CWE-862 reflects the absence of an authorization decision at the boundary between authenticated request handling and sensitive functionality.
Attack Vector
An attacker authenticates to the target WordPress site using any low-privileged account. The attacker then issues crafted HTTP requests to SEOPress admin-ajax or REST endpoints that lack capability checks. The plugin executes the requested action under the attacker's session, altering SEO configuration, metadata, or plugin state. See the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report for the disclosed technical details.
// No verified proof-of-concept code is publicly available.
// Refer to the Patchstack advisory for endpoint-level details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-50456
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected modifications to SEOPress settings, sitemap configuration, or post metadata performed by non-administrator accounts.
- POST requests to SEOPress admin-ajax.php actions or plugin REST routes originating from Subscriber, Contributor, or Author sessions.
- New or altered redirects, canonical URLs, or robots directives that do not match change-management records.
Detection Strategies
- Enumerate installed SEOPress versions across WordPress fleets and flag any instance at or below 8.1.1.
- Review WordPress audit logs for privileged SEOPress actions triggered by accounts lacking the manage_options capability.
- Correlate web server access logs against user role telemetry to identify low-privileged users hitting administrative endpoints.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a WordPress audit-logging plugin to capture role-scoped actions on plugin settings and metadata.
- Alert on HTTP requests to SEOPress endpoints where the authenticated user's role does not match the expected administrative scope.
- Baseline outbound sitemap and metadata changes and alert on drift outside approved change windows.
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-50456
Immediate Actions Required
- Update SEOPress to a version later than 8.1.1 that contains the vendor's access control fix.
- Audit existing WordPress accounts and revoke unnecessary low-privileged users that could be leveraged for exploitation.
- Rotate credentials for any account suspected of unauthorized activity against SEOPress endpoints.
Patch Information
Benjamin Denis has addressed the missing authorization flaw in a SEOPress release subsequent to 8.1.1. Administrators should apply the latest SEOPress update through the WordPress plugin manager. Refer to the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report for the fixed version reference.
Workarounds
- Temporarily deactivate the SEOPress plugin on high-value WordPress sites until the patched release is deployed.
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and REST routes via a web application firewall rule that enforces role-based scoping.
- Limit account creation and disable open registration to reduce the pool of authenticated attackers.
# Update SEOPress via WP-CLI to remediate CVE-2024-50456
wp plugin update wp-seopress
wp plugin get wp-seopress --field=version
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
