# CVE-2024-9161: Missing authorization in Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings

> Unauthenticated attackers can modify or delete user and term metadata, potentially locking administrators out of the dashboard.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Oct 2024
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-rxpx-fpwf-9q46

## What is CVE-2024-9161?

CVE-2024-9161 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in rankmath Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings, published on 5 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification and loss of data due to a missing capability check on the 'update_metadata' function in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.228. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to insert new and update existing metadata beginning with 'rank_math', and delete arbitrary existing user metadata and term metadata. Deleting existing usermeta can cause a loss of access to the administrator dashboard for any registered users, including Administrators.

Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-9161?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Rankmath Seo.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-9161?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-9161 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-9161 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-9161 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Rank Math SEO < 1.0.229 - Unauthenticated User and Term Metadata Insert/Update/Deletion (nuclei): http/cves/2024/CVE-2024-9161.yaml

## Other vulnerabilities in rankmath Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings

- [CVE-2020-11514](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11514/): Missing authorization in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-23888](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-23888/): WordPress Rank Math SEO plugin <= 1.0.107.2 - Local File Inclusion vulnerability (high 7.6)
- [CVE-2024-9314](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9314/): Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings <= 1.0.228 - Authenticated (Administrator+) PHP Object Injection (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2022-36376](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36376/): WordPress Rank Math SEO plugin <= 1.0.95 - Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2023-32600](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-32600/): WordPress Rank Math SEO Plugin <= 1.0.119 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-9161 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-9161 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in rankmath Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings, published on 5 Oct 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-9161 exists.

Affected product: rankmath Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings. 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-2024-9161/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9161/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-9161
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-9161
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-9161

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9161/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.