CVE-2022-3882 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the WordPress plugin 'Memory Usage, Memory Limit, PHP and Server Memory Health Check and Fix' prior to version 2.46. The vulnerability arises from improper authorization and lack of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection in an AJAX action within the plugin. Specifically, any authenticated user, including those with minimal privileges such as subscribers, can exploit this flaw to invoke the vulnerable AJAX endpoint. This allows them to install and activate arbitrary plugins directly from the official WordPress plugin repository without requiring administrative privileges. The core issue is an Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) combined with CSRF (CWE-352), which together enable privilege escalation through unauthorized plugin management. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 6.5 (medium), with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring low privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality impact (C:N), high integrity impact (I:H), and no availability impact (A:N). This means the vulnerability can be exploited remotely by any authenticated user with low privileges, leading to full integrity compromise of the WordPress environment by installing arbitrary plugins that could contain malicious code or backdoors. No known exploits in the wild have been reported, but the vulnerability is significant due to the ease of exploitation and potential for privilege escalation within WordPress sites using this plugin. The plugin is used to monitor and manage PHP and server memory settings, which suggests it is likely installed on sites with performance or resource management concerns. The absence of a patch link indicates that users must upgrade to version 2.46 or later once available or apply manual mitigations.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the integrity of WordPress-based websites, which are widely used for corporate, governmental, and e-commerce purposes. Exploitation could allow low-privileged users or compromised subscriber accounts to escalate privileges and install malicious plugins, potentially leading to website defacement, data manipulation, insertion of malware, or use of the site as a pivot point for further network compromise. Given the plugin’s role in memory and server health monitoring, attackers could also disrupt performance monitoring or introduce stealthy backdoors that evade detection. This could impact the trustworthiness of public-facing websites, lead to data integrity issues, and cause reputational damage. Additionally, compromised WordPress sites could be used to host phishing pages or distribute malware, affecting customers and partners. The vulnerability’s exploitation does not impact confidentiality directly but severely compromises integrity, which is critical for maintaining trustworthy web services. The medium CVSS score reflects the need for timely remediation to prevent privilege escalation and maintain secure operations.

1. Immediate upgrade of the 'Memory Usage, Memory Limit, PHP and Server Memory Health Check and Fix' plugin to version 2.46 or later once the patch is released. 2. Until a patch is available, restrict plugin installation and activation capabilities strictly to administrator roles by implementing custom role-based access controls or using security plugins that enforce capability restrictions. 3. Disable or restrict AJAX actions related to plugin management for non-administrative users by adding custom code snippets or using a web application firewall (WAF) to block suspicious AJAX requests targeting the vulnerable endpoints. 4. Monitor WordPress user activity logs for unusual plugin installation or activation events initiated by low-privileged users. 5. Employ multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all WordPress accounts to reduce the risk of account compromise. 6. Conduct regular security audits and vulnerability scans focusing on WordPress plugins and user permissions. 7. Implement strict Content Security Policy (CSP) and HTTP security headers to reduce the impact of potential CSRF attacks. 8. Educate site administrators and users about the risks of privilege escalation and the importance of minimal privilege principles.