Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This affects the WordPress Controlled Admin Access plugin before 1.5.6. A logged-in attacker could abuse weak access controls to create an administrator role with unrestricted access. That can lead to full website takeover, data exposure, content changes, and service disruption.
Executive priority
Treat this as urgent for any affected WordPress site. A low-privileged account could become an unrestricted administrator, creating a realistic path to full site compromise even without confirmed active exploitation.
Technical view
CVE-2021-4360 is a CWE-284 improper access-control flaw in Controlled Admin Access versions up to 1.5.5. The plugin did not properly restrict access to its configuration page, allowing a low-privileged authenticated attacker to escalate privileges by creating an unrestricted administrator role.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites running Controlled Admin Access 1.5.5 or earlier. The CVSS vector indicates network access, low privileges, no user interaction, and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. Risk is still high because exploitation requires only authenticated access and can result in administrator-level control.
Researcher notes
Key evidence comes from the CVE description, Wordfence, WPScan, Nintechnet, and the WordPress plugin readme reference. Affected-version metadata in the bundle is sparse, so validate against plugin version history and vendor advisories.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Controlled Admin Access to 1.5.6 or later.
- Remove or disable the plugin if an update cannot be applied promptly.
- Review vendor, Wordfence, WPScan, and plugin repository guidance.
- Audit administrator roles and recently changed plugin settings.
- Restrict low-privilege account creation until remediation is complete.
Validation and detection
- Inventory WordPress sites for Controlled Admin Access installations.
- Confirm installed plugin versions are not 1.5.5 or earlier.
- Review WordPress users and roles for unexpected administrator access.
- Check audit logs for suspicious configuration or role changes.
- Validate remediation in staging before production rollout.
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-284: 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 lookupPrivilege behavior lookup
The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2021-4360 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
- Critical
- CVSS
- 9.9 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H3.16Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.9CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/8c57211a-f59d-4379-b09e-7c6049a6b04d?source=cveCVE reference
- https://blog.nintechnet.com/vulnerabilities-fixed-in-wordpress-controlled-admin-access-plugin/CVE reference
- https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/controlled-admin-access/trunk/readme.txtCVE reference
- https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/5ddc0a9d-c081-4bef-aa87-3b10d037379cCVE reference
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.
Improper Access Control
Improper Access Control represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.