CVE-2024-9522 is an authentication bypass vulnerability categorized under CWE-288, found in the WP Users Masquerade plugin for WordPress, versions up to and including 2.0.0. The vulnerability arises from improper authentication and capability verification within the 'ajax_masq_login' function, which handles AJAX requests for user masquerading. This flaw allows any authenticated user with subscriber-level permissions or above to bypass normal authentication controls and log in as any other user on the site, including administrators. The vulnerability is remotely exploitable over the network without requiring user interaction, making it highly accessible to attackers with low privileges. The CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 reflects its critical impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, as an attacker can fully compromise the site by assuming administrative identities. No patches or fixes have been published at the time of disclosure, and no known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The vulnerability affects all versions of the plugin, which is used to allow users to masquerade as other users for administrative or support purposes. The core issue is a failure to properly verify user capabilities before allowing the masquerade login, violating secure coding principles for authentication and authorization. This vulnerability could be leveraged for data theft, site defacement, installation of backdoors, or pivoting to other systems within the network.

The impact of CVE-2024-9522 is severe for organizations using the WP Users Masquerade plugin on WordPress sites. An attacker with minimal privileges (subscriber-level) can escalate their access to that of any user, including administrators, effectively taking full control of the website. This can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion, compromising confidentiality and integrity. Attackers may also deface the website, inject malicious code, or install persistent backdoors, impacting availability and trustworthiness. For e-commerce, financial, or governmental sites, this could result in significant financial loss, reputational damage, and regulatory penalties. Since WordPress powers a large portion of the web, the scope of affected systems is broad, and the vulnerability can be exploited remotely without user interaction, increasing the risk of widespread exploitation. The lack of a patch at disclosure time further elevates the threat, as organizations must rely on temporary mitigations. The vulnerability also undermines user trust and can facilitate further lateral movement within an organization's infrastructure if the compromised site is connected to internal networks.

1. Immediately disable or uninstall the WP Users Masquerade plugin until a security patch is released. 2. Restrict plugin usage to trusted administrators only, and avoid granting subscriber or low-level user roles access to the plugin's functionality. 3. Implement strict role-based access controls (RBAC) to minimize the number of users with permissions that could be exploited. 4. Monitor WordPress logs and audit trails for unusual login activity, especially masquerade login attempts or sudden privilege escalations. 5. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block suspicious AJAX requests targeting the 'ajax_masq_login' endpoint. 6. Keep WordPress core, themes, and all plugins up to date to reduce the attack surface. 7. Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing focused on authentication and authorization mechanisms. 8. Educate site administrators about the risks of using plugins that handle authentication and impersonation features without proper security reviews. 9. Once a patch is available, apply it promptly and verify the fix through testing. 10. Consider implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) for administrative accounts to add an additional security layer.