The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-8349 affects the Uncanny Groups for LearnDash plugin for WordPress, a tool used to manage user groups within LearnDash LMS environments. The core issue is a missing authorization control (CWE-862) that fails to properly restrict the scope of user edits that a group leader can perform. Specifically, group leaders can modify email addresses of users outside their permitted group boundaries, including administrator accounts. Since email addresses are often used for password resets and account recovery, this flaw enables an attacker with group leader privileges to escalate their access to full administrative control of the WordPress site. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), and demands that the attacker already have group leader-level privileges (PR:H). No user interaction is required (UI:N), and the vulnerability impacts confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). The plugin versions up to and including 6.1.0.1 are affected, and no patches or exploit code have been publicly disclosed as of the publication date. The vulnerability was reserved on August 30, 2024, and published on September 25, 2024, with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.2 indicating high severity. This vulnerability is particularly critical in environments where group leaders are numerous or where administrative accounts have high privileges and sensitive data.

The impact of CVE-2024-8349 is significant for organizations using the Uncanny Groups for LearnDash plugin. An attacker with group leader privileges can escalate their access to full administrator control by changing admin email addresses, potentially locking out legitimate admins and gaining persistent control over the WordPress site. This can lead to unauthorized data access, site defacement, installation of backdoors, and disruption of LMS operations. Educational institutions, e-learning providers, and enterprises relying on LearnDash for training and certification are at risk of data breaches and operational downtime. The vulnerability undermines the trust model of group-based access control, potentially affecting multiple user accounts and sensitive educational content. Given the widespread use of WordPress and LearnDash, the scope of affected systems could be broad, especially in sectors where LMS platforms are critical.

To mitigate this vulnerability, organizations should immediately upgrade the Uncanny Groups for LearnDash plugin to a patched version once available. Until a patch is released, restrict group leader privileges to only trusted users and audit existing group leader accounts for suspicious activity. Implement additional monitoring on administrative account changes, especially email modifications, and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on all admin accounts to reduce the risk of account takeover. Consider applying web application firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block unauthorized attempts to modify user accounts. Regularly review and tighten role-based access controls within WordPress and LearnDash to minimize the number of users with elevated privileges. Finally, maintain frequent backups of the WordPress environment to enable rapid recovery in case of compromise.