CVE-2024-1318 is a vulnerability identified in the WordPress plugin 'RSS Aggregator by Feedzy – Feed to Post, Autoblogging, News & YouTube Video Feeds Aggregator' developed by themeisle. The flaw arises from a missing authorization check (CWE-862) in the plugin's 'feedzy_wizard_step_process' and 'import_status' functions. This omission allows authenticated users with Contributor-level permissions or higher—roles typically restricted to creating posts but not publishing them—to bypass normal capability restrictions. Consequently, these users can draft and publish posts containing arbitrary content without further approval. The vulnerability affects all versions up to and including 4.4.2 of the plugin. Since Contributors normally cannot publish posts directly, this elevation of privilege can be leveraged to inject unauthorized content into a WordPress site, potentially leading to misinformation, defacement, or the distribution of malicious content. The vulnerability does not require exploitation by unauthenticated users, but it does allow authenticated users with limited privileges to escalate their capabilities. No public exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date (February 20, 2024). The plugin is widely used for aggregating RSS feeds and autoblogging, making it a common component in many WordPress installations. The lack of a patch link indicates that a fix may not yet be publicly available, emphasizing the need for immediate mitigation steps by site administrators.

For European organizations relying on WordPress websites that use the Feedzy RSS Aggregator plugin, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to content integrity and brand reputation. Attackers with Contributor access—potentially including lower-level employees, contractors, or compromised accounts—could publish unauthorized posts, leading to misinformation, defacement, or the spread of malicious links and malware. This could undermine trust among customers and partners, especially for sectors such as media, e-commerce, education, and government services that depend heavily on accurate and secure web content. Additionally, unauthorized content publication could trigger regulatory scrutiny under the EU's GDPR if personal data or misleading information is involved. The vulnerability could also be exploited as a foothold for further attacks, such as phishing or social engineering campaigns targeting site visitors. Given the plugin's popularity, the scope of affected systems across Europe is potentially broad, increasing the risk of widespread impact if exploited at scale.

1. Immediate review and restriction of user roles: Audit all users with Contributor or higher privileges to ensure only trusted personnel have such access. Temporarily downgrade or remove Contributor roles where possible until a patch is available. 2. Implement strict content moderation workflows: Enable manual review and approval of all posts created by Contributors before publication to prevent unauthorized content from going live. 3. Monitor plugin updates and vendor advisories closely: Since no patch is currently linked, maintain vigilance for official fixes from themeisle and apply them promptly once released. 4. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules: Configure WAFs to detect and block suspicious POST requests targeting the vulnerable plugin functions ('feedzy_wizard_step_process' and 'import_status'). 5. Harden WordPress security: Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users with publishing capabilities to reduce the risk of account compromise. 6. Conduct regular security audits and log monitoring: Track changes to posts and user activities to quickly identify and respond to unauthorized publishing events. 7. Consider temporary deactivation of the plugin if the risk outweighs its utility until a patch is available.