Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessAuthenticate as subscriber-level user
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ExploitSelf-enable OpenStation via save-openstation AJAX
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ExecutionTarget existing orphaned placement row
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ImpactModify other users' placements and read referenced serialized metadata
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Exploitation requires two concrete preconditions stated in the description: (1) at least one orphaned placement must already exist - a state the plugin produces itself when its trash cascade marks a parent folder trashed while leaving child placements' parent_id intact; and (2) the attacker must first self-enable OpenStation by calling the save-openstation AJAX endpoint, which only needs the 'read' capability held by every default WordPress role. The attacker must be authenticated at subscriber level or above (PR:L); no user interaction is required. The practical limiting factor is the dependency on an orphaned-placement state existing, so sites with no orphaned placements are not exploitable until that condition arises. |
| Impact | This is a medium-severity authorization-bypass (CWE-862) issue whose signals are internally consistent and point to a real-but-non-urgent priority rather than an inflated high-CVSS alarm. The provided CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N, base 4.3) indicates a network-reachable flaw requiring low-privileged authentication and no user interaction, with only a low integrity impact and no availability impact. The vuln.today decision label is 'this_month' (not act_now/emergency), and there is no CISA KEV listing and no EPSS score supplied, so there is no evidence of active or automatable exploitation. No public exploit is identified in the input; the references are the Wordfence advisory and WordPress plugin source lines, not a weaponized PoC. One notable tension: the NVD-style vector sets C:N, yet the description explicitly states the attacker can 'read serialized metadata - including title, permalink, and post status' of referenced entities, which is a genuine (if minor) confidentiality disclosure - so the supplied vector appears to understate confidentiality impact. The flaw was also independently found by the OpenStation team, suggesting coordinated handling. Net: patch on a normal monthly cadence; it is a legitimate low-privilege broken-access-control bug, not a drop-everything emergency. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A low-privileged WordPress user (subscriber or above) authenticates, calls the save-openstation AJAX endpoint to self-enable OpenStation using only the default 'read' capability, then abuses the unauthorized action to tamper with other users' placement rows and read serialized metadata (title, permalink, post status) of the entities those orphaned placements reference. No public exploit is identified at time of analysis, and exploitation depends on at least one orphaned placement already existing. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 30, 2026
Authorization bypass in the OpenStation WordPress plugin (slug desktop-mode) through version 1.1.16 lets any authenticated user at subscriber level or above modify other users' placement rows - position, sort order, parent folder and meta - and read serialized metadata such as title, permalink and post status for the entities those placements reference. The attacker must first self-enable OpenStation via the save-openstation AJAX endpoint, which requires only the 'read' capability that every default WordPress role holds, and the chain additionally depends on at least one orphaned placement existing, a state the plugin's own trash cascade produces when it marks a parent folder trashed while leaving child placements' parent_id intact. Rated medium (CVSS 3.1: 4.3, AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N) with low confidentiality and integrity impact; no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the priority signal places it in this_month rather than emergency handling.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patched version number is confirmed in the available data; the reference https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?reponame=&old=3761843%40desktop-mode&new=3761843%40desktop-mode points to an upstream changeset for desktop-mode, so treat that as the fix commit and update the plugin once a tagged release containing it is published, tracking the Wordfence advisory at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a62e499d-6520-4bad-963a-ff7619daa5f8?source=cve for the version that ships the correction. If the plugin cannot be updated immediately, deactivating or removing desktop-mode eliminates the exposure at the cost of losing the custom admin dashboard UI. Because every default WordPress role holds the 'read' capability needed to self-enable OpenStation, restricting registration and pruning low-privilege subscriber accounts to a trusted set also shrinks the attack surface, though it breaks open membership models; separately, auditing and cleaning orphaned placements (rows whose parent_id references a folder that has been trashed) removes the precondition the exploit chain depends on, but this is only a stopgap since the underlying missing authorization check on the placement REST/AJAX handlers remains.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
The flaw is a missing-authorization case (CWE-862) in a WordPress plugin that implements a desktop-style admin UI on top of custom 'placement' records stored by the plugin, where a placement is tied to a user and carries position, sort order, parent folder and meta fields. The referenced code - includes/desktop-files/store.php (around line 254), includes/desktop-files/rest.php (lines 57 and 517) and includes/desktop-files/folders-store.php (around line 618) - handles placement and folder storage plus the REST/AJAX entry points that mutate those rows, and does not properly verify that the requesting user is authorized for the specific placement being acted upon, permitting cross-user modification and disclosure of the serialized placement metadata. Two prerequisites gate real-world exploitation: the plugin's trash cascade must already have left at least one orphaned placement, i.e. a parent folder marked trashed while the child placement's parent_id is unchanged, and the attacker must first switch OpenStation on for their own account through the save-openstation AJAX endpoint, which is reachable with only the 'read' capability held by every default WordPress role. Authentication at subscriber level or above is required (PR:L), no user interaction is involved, and the assessed impact is limited to low confidentiality (metadata of referenced entities: title, permalink, post status) and low integrity (placement position, ordering, folder assignment and meta) rather than full content disclosure or site compromise.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Network-reachable, needs only subscriber auth so PR:L; AC:L since the self-enable step is trivial; C:L added because the flaw reads referenced metadata (title, permalink, status), and I:L for modifying other users' placement rows.
Primary rating from Vendor (Wordfence).
CVSS VectorVendor: Wordfence
DescriptionCVE.org
The OpenStation: Desktop Windows, Dock & Virtual Desktops for WP Admin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.16. This is due to the plugin not properly verifying that a user is authorized to perform an action. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to modify arbitrary other users' placement rows (position, sort order, parent folder, and meta) and read serialized metadata - including title, permalink, and post status - of the entities those orphaned placements reference. Exploitation requires at least one orphaned placement to exist - a state produced naturally by the plugin's own trash cascade, which marks a parent folder as trashed while leaving child placements' parent_id intact - and the attacker must first self-enable OpenStation via the save-openstation AJAX endpoint, which requires only the 'read' capability held by every default WordPress role. This was also independently found by the OpenStation team.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
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EUVD-2026-114226
GHSA-hrw5-8ff3-3cgr
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB