# CVE-2022-2273: Simple Membership < 4.1.3 - Membership Privilege Escalation

> Attackers can escalate membership privileges by manipulating the membership_level parameter in profile edit requests.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Aug 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hfj7-fhvx-37c9

## What is CVE-2022-2273?

CVE-2022-2273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Unknown Simple Membership, published on 1 Aug 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Simple Membership WordPress plugin before 4.1.3 does not properly validate the membership_level parameter when editing a profile, allowing members to escalate to a higher membership level by using a crafted POST request.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-2273?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Simple-Membership-Plugin Simple Membership.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-2273?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-2273 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-2273 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-2273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Unknown Simple Membership

- [CVE-2022-2317](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2317/): Simple Membership < 4.1.3 - Unauthenticated Membership Privilege Escalation (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-41956](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41956/): WordPress Simple Membership plugin <= 4.3.4 - Authenticated Account Takeover vulnerability (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-10884](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10884/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-14328](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-14328/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-41957](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-41957/): WordPress Simple Membership plugin <= 4.3.4 - Unauthenticated Membership Role Privilege Escalation vulnerability (high 8.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-2273 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-2273 is a high-severity vulnerability in Unknown Simple Membership, published on 1 Aug 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-2273 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Unknown Simple Membership. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2273/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2273/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-2273
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-2273
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-2273

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2273/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.