# CVE-2024-8428: Privilege escalation in ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board

> Authenticated subscribers can escalate privileges to administrator by changing admin email addresses via insecure direct object reference in ForumWP plugin.

- **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:** 6 Sep 2024
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-ww5m-q9hx-hcf2

## What is CVE-2024-8428?

CVE-2024-8428 is a high-severity vulnerability in ultimatemember ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board, published on 6 Sep 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via Insecure Direct Object Reference in all versions up to, and including, 2.0.2 via the submit_form_handler due to missing validation on the 'user_id' user controlled key. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level access and above, to change the email address of administrative user accounts which can then be leveraged to reset the administrative users password and gain access to their account.

Weakness: CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-8428?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Ultimatemember Forumwp.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-8428?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-8428 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-8428 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-8428 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in ultimatemember ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board

- [CVE-2024-54367](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-54367/): WordPress ForumWP plugin <= 2.1.0 - PHP Object Injection vulnerability (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2024-10879](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-10879/): ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board <= 2.1.2 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2024-11204](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-11204/): ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board <= 2.1.2 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via url Parameter (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-8428 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-8428 is a high-severity vulnerability in ultimatemember ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board, published on 6 Sep 2024. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-8428 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: ultimatemember ForumWP – Forum & Discussion Board. 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-2024-8428/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-8428/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-8428
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-8428
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-8428

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-8428/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.