Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This WordPress plugin flaw let logged-in users change or read the wildcard redirect setting without proper authorization. That could alter how site traffic is redirected, creating business risk around visitor misdirection, SEO disruption, or abuse of trusted domains.
Executive priority
Treat this as a timely maintenance and integrity issue for affected WordPress sites. It is not supported as actively exploited here, but unauthorized redirect changes can affect trust, traffic, and brand safety.
Technical view
CVE-2021-24355 affects Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks before 2.0.4. Missing capability checks and insufficient nonce validation on AJAX actions allowed authenticated users to retrieve and update the wildcard redirect value. The issue maps to CWE-862.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites using Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks versions before 2.0.4, especially 2.0.0 through 2.0.3. Attackers need authenticated access, but any over-permissive or compromised account increases risk.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Public sources describe the vulnerability and patched status, but do not provide a CVSS score in the supplied data.
Researcher notes
The core issue is authorization failure on admin AJAX actions controlling wildcard redirects. Evidence supports authenticated retrieve/update impact and a fixed version threshold. Severity remains uncertain because the supplied record lacks CVSS details.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks to version 2.0.4 or later.
- Review wildcard redirect configuration for unauthorized changes.
- Remove unnecessary WordPress user accounts and reduce excessive privileges.
- Check vendor guidance for any additional plugin-specific remediation.
- Monitor redirect behavior for unexpected traffic or SEO changes.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress sites for Simple 301 Redirects by BetterLinks.
- Confirm installed plugin versions are 2.0.4 or later.
- Review current wildcard redirect values for business approval.
- Check WordPress user activity for suspicious redirect setting changes.
- Confirm authenticated users cannot alter redirect settings without proper authorization.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-862: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-24355 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/05/severe-vulnerabilities-patched-in-simple-301-redirects-by-betterlinks-plugin/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/ce8f9648-30fb-4fb9-894e-879dc0f26f98CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Missing Authorization
Missing Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.