Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessAuthenticate as low-privilege user
-
ExploitSend request to unprotected plugin action
-
ExecutionMissing authorization check bypassed
-
ImpactModify subscription data (integrity impact)
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 | Requires a valid authenticated session on the target WordPress/WooCommerce site (PR:L), consistent with the plugin's user model (e.g., a registered customer/subscriber account); fully anonymous exploitation is not supported by the CVSS vector. Exploitation targets a Flexible Subscriptions plugin action that lacks a proper capability/authorization check, affecting versions from an unspecified start through 1.8.4. Limiting factors: an attacker must first obtain or register a low-privilege account, impact is confined to partial integrity (no data disclosure and no denial of service), and scope is unchanged (S:U). No specific non-default configuration is named in the advisory; the condition is the presence of the vulnerable plugin version with user registration/login enabled. |
| Impact | This is a moderate-risk, not a priority, issue. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N, base 4.3 Medium) indicates a network-reachable, low-complexity flaw requiring low-level authentication (PR:L) and no user interaction, with impact limited to partial integrity (I:L) and no confidentiality or availability effect. This aligns with CWE-862 (Missing Authorization): an authenticated low-privilege user can invoke an action they should not be allowed to, modifying some data. There is NO CISA KEV listing and NO public exploit identified, so there are no active-exploitation or POC signals to elevate it. No EPSS score was provided in the input, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified here. No SSVC decision data was supplied. The requirement for valid authentication (PR:L) plus the integrity-only, scope-unchanged impact substantially limits real-world severity; this looks like a typical authorization gap exploitable by existing users (e.g., subscribers/customers) rather than anonymous attackers. Note: the input Tag 'Authentication Bypass' conflicts with the CWE-862 classification and the referenced Patchstack title ('broken access control') - this is an authorization flaw for an already-authenticated user, not an authentication bypass; treat the tag as imprecise. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker who already holds a low-privilege authenticated account (such as a customer or subscriber on a WooCommerce store running Flexible Subscriptions ≤1.8.4) sends a crafted request to a plugin endpoint that fails to verify the caller's authorization, allowing them to alter subscription-related data they should not control. No user interaction or elevated privileges are needed, but a valid login is required. No public proof-of-concept was identified at time of analysis. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 12, 2026
Missing authorization in the WP Desk Flexible Subscriptions WordPress plugin, affecting all versions through 1.8.4, lets an authenticated low-privilege user (for example a registered customer or subscriber, PR:L) invoke plugin functionality that lacks a proper capability check, altering data the account should not be able to change. Impact is limited to partial integrity loss - no confidentiality or availability effect and no scope change - giving it a moderate CVSS 3.1 base score of 4.3, and exploitation requires a valid session on the target WordPress/WooCommerce site. There is no evidence of active exploitation (not listed in CISA KEV) and no public exploit code identified at time of analysis, so this is a moderate-risk, not a priority, issue.
RemediationAI
No vendor-released patch version is identified in the available data: the single reference is the Patchstack vulnerability entry for the 1.8.4 broken access control issue rather than a tagged fix, so the primary action is to check the WP Desk Flexible Subscriptions changelog and update to any release published after 1.8.4 as soon as it appears, verifying the fix on a staging copy first because subscription data migrations in this plugin can be destructive. Because exploitation requires an authenticated low-privilege session, the most effective compensating control is to close the account surface: disable open user registration and self-service WooCommerce account creation (Settings > General > Membership and WooCommerce > Settings > Accounts & Privacy), which removes the attacker's easiest path to a PR:L session - the trade-off being loss of self-service signups and extra manual account provisioning. In parallel, audit existing accounts and downgrade or delete unused subscriber/customer roles, since any legitimate low-privilege account can serve as the launch point; this costs administrative time but does not restore the missing capability check. If the plugin is not essential, deactivating and removing Flexible Subscriptions eliminates the exposure entirely at the cost of losing subscription functionality. Where the plugin must stay active, add a WAF or reverse-proxy rule that blocks non-privileged authenticated requests to the plugin's admin-ajax/REST subscription-management endpoints, accepting the risk of false positives for legitimate customer self-service actions, and enable logging on those endpoints to detect abuse. Track the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/wordpress/plugin/flexible-subscriptions/vulnerability/wordpress-flexible-subscriptions-plugin-1-8-4-broken-access-control-vulnerability?_s_id=cve for an updated fixed-version reference.
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 root cause is CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) in a WordPress plugin that extends WooCommerce with subscription management. The vulnerable code path is a plugin action - typically an admin-ajax or REST endpoint handling subscription state - that fails to enforce a current_user_can() capability check and/or nonce validation before performing a state-changing operation. Because WordPress authenticates the request but the plugin never verifies that the caller holds the required capability (such as manage_woocommerce or a subscriber-management capability), any logged-in account can reach the handler. The CPE string cpe:2.3:a:wp_desk:flexible_subscriptions:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* is a wildcarded match indicating every released version up to and including 1.8.4 is affected, and the vendor-published mapping lists this as a broken access control / authentication bypass class issue alongside the tags WordPress, WordPress Plugin, and Flexible Subscriptions. The CVSS vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N confirms the handler is network reachable with no user interaction, that the attacker must already hold a low-privilege account, and that the resulting impact is confined to modification of data within the plugin's own security scope.
Know when Flexible Subscriptions gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
Network-reachable endpoint with low complexity; PR:L because a low-privilege authenticated account is required; integrity-only (I:L) with no confidentiality or availability impact per the missing-authorization scope.
Primary rating from Vendor (Patchstack).
CVSS VectorVendor: Patchstack
DescriptionCVE.org
Missing Authorization vulnerability in WP Desk Flexible Subscriptions flexible-subscriptions allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Flexible Subscriptions: from n/a through 1.8.4.
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.
EUVD-2026-97297
GHSA-vg8r-cvrj-3hm5
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB