Executive Summary

The Divi Form Builder plugin for WordPress has a vulnerability in versions up to and including 5.1.2 where it accepts a user-controlled 'role' parameter during user registration without validating it against the form's configured default user role.

This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to manipulate the 'role' parameter in POST data to create accounts with administrator privileges, effectively escalating their privileges beyond what is intended.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can have severe impacts as it allows attackers to create administrator accounts without authentication.

• Attackers can gain full control over the affected WordPress site.
• They can modify site content, install malicious plugins or themes, and access sensitive data.
• It can lead to complete compromise of the website's integrity, confidentiality, and availability.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, you should immediately update the Divi Form Builder plugin to version 5.1.3 or later.

The update fixes the issue by enforcing the role assignments as configured in the form settings, preventing unauthorized privilege escalation.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to create administrator accounts by exploiting privilege escalation in the Divi Form Builder plugin. This unauthorized access to administrative privileges can lead to unauthorized data access, modification, or deletion.

Such unauthorized access and potential data breaches can negatively impact compliance with common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require strict access controls and protection of sensitive data.

Failure to prevent privilege escalation and unauthorized administrative access may result in violations of these regulations, leading to legal and financial consequences.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by checking if your WordPress site is running the Divi Form Builder plugin version 5.1.2 or earlier, as these versions are vulnerable to privilege escalation via the role parameter during user registration.

To detect exploitation attempts or presence of unauthorized administrator accounts, you can review the user roles assigned to recently created accounts in WordPress.

Suggested commands to detect potential exploitation include:

• Using WP-CLI to list users with administrator roles: wp user list --role=administrator
• Checking the plugin version installed: wp plugin status divi-form-builder
• Reviewing recent user registrations in the WordPress database, for example by querying the wp_users and wp_usermeta tables to identify users with elevated roles created recently.

If you find administrator accounts created without proper authorization or the plugin version is vulnerable, immediate update to version 5.1.3 or later is recommended.

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