Unauthorized Record Modification in The Events Calendar WordPress Plugin

Executive Summary

This vulnerability is an incorrect authorization issue in The Events Calendar WordPress plugin. It allows users with low-privilege roles, such as contributors, to modify, unpublish, trash, or take ownership of events, venues, or organizers created by other users, including administrators. The flaw exists because certain REST write routes do not perform proper per-object capability checks.

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Detection Guidance

Check the installed version of The Events Calendar plugin using WordPress admin panel or run the command: wp plugin list --name=the-events-calendar. If the version is between 6.15.16.1 and 6.17.4.1, the system is vulnerable.

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Impact Analysis

If you are a WordPress site administrator, an attacker with a low-privilege role could modify or delete your events, venues, or organizers. This could disrupt your website's functionality, alter content without permission, or take control of your site's data.

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Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized modifications or deletions of sensitive data, potentially violating compliance requirements for GDPR or HIPAA. Unauthorized changes to user data or records may result in data integrity issues and legal penalties.

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Mitigation Strategies

Update The Events Calendar plugin to version 6.17.5 or later immediately. Disable write access for low-privilege roles like contributors until the update is applied.

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