CVE-2024-51800: Favethemes Homey Privilege Escalation

CVE-2024-51800 Overview

CVE-2024-51800 is an Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability affecting the Homey WordPress theme by Favethemes. This critical flaw enables privilege escalation, allowing unauthenticated attackers to elevate their privileges within the WordPress installation. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of user role assignments in the Homey theme, potentially allowing malicious actors to gain administrative access to affected WordPress sites.

Critical Impact

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this privilege escalation vulnerability to gain elevated permissions, potentially obtaining full administrative control over WordPress installations running the vulnerable Homey theme.

Affected Products

• Favethemes Homey WordPress Theme versions through 2.4.1
• WordPress installations using vulnerable Homey theme versions
• Real estate and property rental websites built with Homey theme

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-04-04 - CVE CVE-2024-51800 published to NVD
• 2025-04-07 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-51800

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment), which occurs when a product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control. In the context of the Homey WordPress theme, the flaw allows attackers to bypass normal authentication and authorization mechanisms to escalate their privileges within the WordPress environment.

The vulnerability is particularly severe because it can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring prior authentication or user interaction. Successful exploitation could result in complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected WordPress installation.

Root Cause

The root cause of CVE-2024-51800 lies in the incorrect implementation of privilege assignment logic within the Homey theme. The theme fails to properly validate and restrict user role assignments during certain operations, allowing attackers to manipulate their assigned privileges. This improper access control mechanism enables unauthorized users to assign themselves elevated roles such as administrator without proper authorization checks.

Attack Vector

The attack vector for this vulnerability is network-based, meaning attackers can exploit it remotely without requiring local access to the target system. The exploitation path likely involves manipulating user registration or profile update requests to the WordPress installation running the vulnerable Homey theme.

An attacker could craft malicious requests that exploit the privilege assignment flaw, potentially modifying their user role or creating new accounts with administrative privileges. Since no authentication is required and user interaction is not necessary, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to any publicly accessible WordPress site using the affected theme versions.

For detailed technical information about the exploitation mechanism, refer to the Patchstack WordPress Homey Vulnerability advisory.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-51800

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected creation of new administrator accounts in WordPress
• Unusual modifications to existing user roles or capabilities
• Suspicious login activity from unknown IP addresses to administrator accounts
• Unauthorized changes to WordPress site configuration or content

Detection Strategies

• Monitor WordPress user database for unexpected role changes or new administrator accounts
• Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect privilege escalation attempts targeting the Homey theme
• Review WordPress wp_usermeta table for suspicious wp_capabilities modifications
• Enable detailed logging for user registration and profile update activities

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure alerts for any new administrator account creation
• Monitor authentication logs for unusual login patterns following user registration events
• Implement real-time monitoring of WordPress user role changes
• Review access logs for suspicious requests to Homey theme endpoints

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-51800

Immediate Actions Required

• Update the Homey theme to the latest patched version immediately
• Audit all existing WordPress user accounts for unauthorized privilege escalations
• Review and remove any suspicious administrator accounts created after the vulnerability disclosure
• Implement additional authentication controls such as two-factor authentication for all administrator accounts

Patch Information

Organizations using the Favethemes Homey WordPress theme should update to a version newer than 2.4.1 as soon as a patched release becomes available. Monitor the Patchstack WordPress Homey Vulnerability advisory for updates on available patches.

Workarounds

• Temporarily disable user registration on WordPress sites using the vulnerable Homey theme
• Implement web application firewall rules to block suspicious privilege escalation attempts
• Restrict access to WordPress admin endpoints using IP whitelisting where feasible
• Consider temporarily switching to an alternative theme until a patch is available

# Disable user registration in WordPress wp-config.php
# Add this line to prevent new user registrations
define('DISABLE_USER_REGISTRATION', true);

# Or disable via wp-admin settings
# Navigate to Settings > General and uncheck "Anyone can register"