CVE-2024-50504: Bulk Change Role Privilege Escalation Flaw

CVE-2024-50504 Overview

CVE-2024-50504 is an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability [CWE-266] in the WebXMedia Bulk Change Role plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.1. Authenticated attackers with low-level privileges can escalate to higher-privileged roles by abusing the plugin's role-change functionality. Because the plugin fails to correctly restrict who can assign which roles, low-privileged users can grant themselves administrative capabilities. Successful exploitation compromises the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected WordPress site.

Critical Impact
Authenticated users with minimal privileges can elevate to administrator, achieving full control over the WordPress site including content, users, and installed plugins.

Affected Products

WebXMedia Bulk Change Role plugin for WordPress
All versions from n/a through 1.1 (inclusive)
WordPress installations with the bulk-role-change plugin active

Discovery Timeline

2024-10-30 - CVE-2024-50504 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-50504

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability resides in the Bulk Change Role plugin, which provides administrators a way to change WordPress user roles in bulk. The plugin's role-assignment logic does not enforce proper capability checks on the user issuing the request. As a result, an authenticated user with a low-privileged role such as Subscriber or Contributor can invoke the role-change functionality and assign themselves or others the Administrator role.

This maps to the CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) weakness class. The issue is a broken access control flaw at the application layer, not a memory or protocol issue. Exploitation requires only a valid authenticated session and a network path to the WordPress site.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing or insufficient authorization enforcement in the plugin's role-change handler. WordPress expects plugins that modify user roles to gate that functionality behind the promote_users or edit_users capability check and to validate nonces on state-changing requests. The Bulk Change Role plugin through version 1.1 does not correctly perform these checks before applying role changes.

Attack Vector

Exploitation proceeds over the network against the WordPress admin interface. An attacker authenticates with any valid low-privileged account, then submits a crafted request to the plugin's role-change endpoint specifying a target user and an elevated role. Because authorization is not enforced, the server accepts the change and updates the target account's role in the database. Once elevated to Administrator, the attacker can install malicious plugins, upload web shells, exfiltrate data, or pivot to the underlying host.

See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical detail.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-50504

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected changes to user wp_capabilities values in the WordPress wp_usermeta table, particularly accounts newly assigned the administrator role.
New or existing low-privileged accounts that suddenly gain access to /wp-admin/ administrative screens such as Plugins, Users, or Theme Editor.
HTTP POST requests to plugin endpoints containing bulk-role-change or bulk_role_change parameters originating from non-administrator sessions.
Installation of unfamiliar plugins or themes, or file modifications under wp-content/plugins/ and wp-content/uploads/ following a suspicious role change.

Detection Strategies

Audit WordPress user roles regularly and alert on any promotion to Administrator that was not performed by an existing administrator account.
Enable and review WordPress audit logs (via a plugin such as WP Activity Log) to capture role-change events with actor, target, and timestamp.
Correlate web server access logs with authentication logs to identify low-privileged sessions issuing requests to plugin administrative endpoints.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest WordPress application logs, web server access logs, and database audit events into a centralized SIEM for correlation and retention.
Alert on privilege escalation patterns: role change followed by plugin installation, file upload, or wp_options modification within a short time window.
Monitor outbound connections from the web host for signs of post-exploitation activity such as web shell callbacks or data exfiltration.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-50504

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate and remove the Bulk Change Role plugin from all WordPress installations until a fixed version is confirmed available.
Review all WordPress user accounts and revoke administrative privileges from any user that should not hold them.
Force a password reset for all accounts, especially any that were recently promoted, and invalidate active sessions.
Audit the wp-content/plugins/ and wp-content/themes/ directories for unauthorized files or modifications.

Patch Information

At the time of publication, the vendor advisory referenced by Patchstack indicates the vulnerability affects Bulk Change Role versions through 1.1 with no fixed version listed. Administrators should monitor the plugin's WordPress.org listing for a patched release and apply it immediately once available.

Workarounds

Remove the plugin entirely if no patched version is available; the risk of leaving it installed outweighs its administrative convenience.
Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by IP allowlist at the web server or web application firewall (WAF) layer to limit which authenticated users can reach plugin endpoints.
Enforce the principle of least privilege by minimizing the number of accounts with any role above Subscriber and requiring multi-factor authentication for all elevated accounts.

bash

# Configuration example: restrict wp-admin access via nginx and remove the vulnerable plugin

# 1. Deactivate and delete the vulnerable plugin using WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate bulk-role-change
wp plugin delete bulk-role-change

# 2. Audit administrator accounts
wp user list --role=administrator --fields=ID,user_login,user_email,user_registered

# 3. Restrict /wp-admin/ to trusted IP ranges in nginx
location ^~ /wp-admin/ {
    allow 203.0.113.0/24;   # trusted admin network
    deny  all;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}