The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-5942 affects the 'Page and Post Clone' WordPress plugin developed by carlosfazenda. This plugin allows users to clone pages and posts within WordPress sites. The flaw is an Insecure Direct Object Reference (IDOR), classified under CWE-639, occurring in the 'content_clone' function. The root cause is the absence of proper validation on a user-controlled key parameter, which is used to identify the content to be cloned. Because of this missing validation, authenticated users with Author-level permissions or higher can exploit this vulnerability to clone and access private posts that they normally should not be authorized to view. This bypasses the intended authorization controls. The vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin up to and including version 6.0. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3, indicating a medium severity level. The attack vector is network-based (remote), requires low attack complexity, and privileges at the Author level. No user interaction is required, and the scope is unchanged, meaning the exploit affects only the vulnerable component. The impact is limited to confidentiality loss (reading private posts), with no impact on integrity or availability. No patches or fixes have been linked yet, and no known exploits have been observed in the wild. The vulnerability was published on June 29, 2024.

This vulnerability allows authenticated users with Author-level access or higher to bypass authorization controls and read private posts by cloning them. This can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or confidential content intended to be restricted. While the impact is limited to confidentiality and does not affect data integrity or system availability, the exposure of private content can have reputational, legal, and privacy implications for organizations. Since WordPress is widely used for content management, and the affected plugin is designed to facilitate content cloning, any site using this plugin is at risk if it grants Author-level access to untrusted users. Attackers could leverage this flaw to access sensitive internal communications, unpublished articles, or proprietary information. The vulnerability does not allow privilege escalation or remote code execution, limiting its overall impact. However, in environments where private content confidentiality is critical, this vulnerability poses a significant risk.

Organizations should immediately review and restrict Author-level permissions to trusted users only, minimizing the number of users who can exploit this vulnerability. Until an official patch is released, consider disabling or uninstalling the 'Page and Post Clone' plugin if it is not essential. If the plugin is required, implement additional access controls such as web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the 'content_clone' function or parameters. Monitoring logs for unusual cloning activity by Author-level users can help detect exploitation attempts. Site administrators should stay updated with vendor advisories and apply patches promptly once available. Additionally, consider employing principle of least privilege for user roles and regularly audit user permissions to reduce the attack surface. Custom code or filters could be implemented to validate user permissions explicitly before allowing cloning operations as a temporary workaround.