CVE-2024-53825: Filebird Auth Bypass Vulnerability

CVE-2024-53825 Overview

CVE-2024-53825 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the Ninja Team Filebird plugin for WordPress. The flaw affects all versions of filebird up to and including 6.3.2. Attackers can exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels to reach functionality that should be restricted. The issue is tracked under CWE-862: Missing Authorization and is documented in the Patchstack Vulnerability Advisory.

Critical Impact
Authenticated attackers with high privileges can abuse missing authorization checks in Filebird to compromise confidentiality, integrity, and availability of WordPress media library assets.

Affected Products

Ninja Team Filebird WordPress plugin, versions up to and including 6.3.2
Filebird Lite plugin distributions bundled with WordPress installations
WordPress sites running any vulnerable filebird build listed in the CPE cpe:2.3:a:ninjateam:filebird:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*

Discovery Timeline

2024-12-06 - CVE-2024-53825 published to NVD
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-53825

Vulnerability Analysis

Filebird is a WordPress plugin that organizes media library files into virtual folders. The plugin exposes administrative actions through WordPress AJAX and REST endpoints. One or more of these endpoints fail to enforce proper capability checks before performing sensitive operations on folders and attached media. An attacker who reaches these endpoints can perform actions that should be reserved for higher-privileged users. According to the Patchstack advisory, the flaw is a broken access control condition rather than a missing authentication check.

Root Cause

The root cause is missing authorization enforcement [CWE-862]. Handlers accept requests without verifying that the caller holds the required WordPress capability for the requested operation. The plugin relies on incorrectly configured access control security levels, which allows callers to invoke privileged folder and media operations outside their intended role boundary.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires an authenticated session on the target WordPress site. A malicious actor sends crafted requests to vulnerable Filebird endpoints to trigger unauthorized folder manipulation or media actions. Successful exploitation impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the media library and the folders that organize it. No public proof-of-concept exploit is currently referenced in the enriched CVE data, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

No verified exploit code is available for this vulnerability. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Advisory for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-53825

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected creation, renaming, or deletion of Filebird folders by low-privileged users in the wp_options or Filebird custom tables.
WordPress access logs showing requests to admin-ajax.php or wp-json/filebird/ routes from accounts that should not perform administrative media actions.
Unusual reorganization of media library attachments outside standard editorial workflows.

Detection Strategies

Audit WordPress user activity logs for Filebird API calls issued by subscriber, contributor, or author roles.
Compare inventory of Filebird folders and attachment mappings against known-good backups to identify unauthorized modifications.
Alert on HTTP POST requests to Filebird AJAX actions that originate from sessions lacking the manage_options or upload_files capability.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable WordPress audit logging plugins to capture role-scoped API usage and preserve request payloads for review.
Forward WordPress and web server logs to a centralized log platform for correlation across authentication and plugin activity.
Track the installed filebird version across all WordPress sites and flag any host still reporting version 6.3.2 or earlier.

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-53825

Immediate Actions Required

Update the Filebird plugin to a version later than 6.3.2 as soon as the vendor patch is validated in a staging environment.
Review WordPress user accounts and remove or downgrade roles that do not require access to media management.
Rotate credentials for any WordPress account that could have been used to reach the vulnerable endpoints during the exposure window.

Patch Information

The vendor advisory referenced through Patchstack identifies affected versions from n/a through <= 6.3.2. Administrators should upgrade to the latest Filebird release published by Ninja Team that addresses the missing authorization checks. Confirm the fixed version directly from the Patchstack Vulnerability Advisory before deploying.

Workarounds

Restrict access to wp-admin/admin-ajax.php and Filebird REST routes using a web application firewall rule until the patch is applied.
Temporarily deactivate the Filebird plugin on sites where media folder organization is not business-critical.
Limit WordPress account provisioning to trusted users and enforce multi-factor authentication for all privileged roles.

bash

# Example WP-CLI commands to inventory and update Filebird across sites
wp plugin get filebird --field=version
wp plugin update filebird
wp plugin list --status=active --format=table | grep filebird