VulnerabilityPublished 5 May 2024Updated 1 Nov 2024

CVE-2024-34528: WordOps · Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition

Affects WordOpsSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.7 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.7High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 7% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 5 May 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubwordops/WordOps`pkg:github/wordops/WordOps`Other threats	Affected <=3.20.0	Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

Restrict local file system access to trusted users only, enforcing strict permissions on directories and files related to WordOps configuration to prevent unauthorized file manipulation.
Monitor file system changes in the WordOps configuration directories using integrity monitoring tools to detect suspicious modifications indicative of exploitation attempts.
Implement mandatory access controls (e.g., SELinux, AppArmor) to limit the ability of processes and users to alter configuration files unexpectedly.
Avoid running WordOps or related services with elevated privileges unnecessarily to reduce the impact of a successful local exploit.
Until an official patch is released, consider isolating WordOps management to dedicated, secure administrative hosts with limited user access.
Regularly audit local user accounts and remove or disable unnecessary accounts to reduce the attack surface.
Stay updated with WordOps vendor announcements for patches or official fixes and apply them promptly once available.
Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to detect and block exploitation attempts in real time.

Description

WordOps through 3.20.0 has a wo/cli/plugins/stack_pref.py TOCTOU race condition because the conf_path os.open does not use a mode parameter during file creation.

Impact

The vulnerability allows local attackers to exploit a race condition to manipulate configuration files used by WordOps, potentially leading to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information or unauthorized modification of system configurations. This can result in privilege escalation, unauthorized access to web server configurations, or disruption of web services through malicious configuration changes. Organizations relying on WordOps for managing web servers may face significant risks including data breaches, service disruptions, and loss of trust. Since the vulnerability affects confidentiality and integrity with high severity, attackers could gain persistent footholds or disrupt critical web infrastructure. The lack of required privileges or user interaction lowers the barrier for exploitation by insiders or compromised local accounts. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the threat, especially in environments with multiple users or shared hosting. The impact is particularly severe for organizations with sensitive web applications or critical online services managed via WordOps.

CWE-367Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check.
Implementation
The most basic advice for TOCTOU vulnerabilities is to not perform a check before the use. This does not resolve the underlying issue of the execution of a function on a resource whose state and identity cannot be assured, but it does help to limit the false sense of security given by the check.
Implementation
When the file being altered is owned by the current user and group, set the effective gid and uid to that of the current user and group when executing this statement.
Architecture and Design
Limit the interleaving of operations on files from multiple processes.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.11.3 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.6 (opens in a new tab)
V1.11.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Leveraging Race Conditions via Symbolic Links (opens in a new tab)
Leveraging Time-of-Check and Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) Race Conditions (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 28 Feb 2026, 03:13 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-367

Technical details

References

Community reviews

Related threats