Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This is a critical WordPress plugin flaw. An unauthenticated attacker could change site options in Pinterest Automatic, potentially creating administrator accounts or redirecting visitors. For affected public WordPress sites, this can become full site takeover and visitor abuse risk.
Executive priority
Treat this as urgent for any WordPress property using Pinterest Automatic. The business risk is site takeover, visitor redirection, and reputational harm. Prioritize inventory, patching or removal, and compromise review before considering the issue closed.
Technical view
The vulnerability is an authorization bypass in Pinterest Automatic for WordPress, tied to missing capability checks in wp_pinterest_automatic_parse_request and process_form.php. Sources describe unauthenticated arbitrary option updates, with CVSS 9.8 and CWE-284. Version evidence in the bundle conflicts between 1.14.3 and 4.14.3.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on internet-facing WordPress sites with the ValvePress Pinterest Automatic plugin installed and active at affected versions. The source bundle identifies unauthenticated attack surface and arbitrary option modification, but contains inconsistent version data that requires local confirmation.
Exploitation context
The CVE bundle does not mark this as KEV, and no cited source in the bundle states active exploitation. The impact is still severe because the described attack requires no authentication, low complexity, and can affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Researcher notes
The source bundle is internally inconsistent: the title and third-party references point to <=4.14.3, while the description says <=1.14.3 and affected metadata is sparse. Use the cited advisories and local plugin metadata to confirm exposure. Do not assume KEV or active exploitation from this bundle.
Mitigation direction
- Update Pinterest Automatic to a vendor-fixed release where available.
- Disable or remove the plugin if immediate updating is not possible.
- Review WordPress administrator accounts for unauthorized additions.
- Review site URL, redirect, and other critical options for unexpected changes.
- Check vendor and security-provider advisories for exact fixed version guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory all WordPress sites for the Pinterest Automatic plugin.
- Confirm installed plugin versions against vendor and cited advisory data.
- Investigate unexpected administrator accounts or privilege changes.
- Inspect critical WordPress options for unauthorized modifications.
- Review access logs for suspicious unauthenticated requests to plugin functionality.
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-2021-4380 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
- 9.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H3.95.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
9.8CriticalVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e4fdc902-4cfe-4116-a294-9a0fcb2de346?source=cveCVE reference
- https://blog.nintechnet.com/critical-vulnerability-fixed-in-wordpress-pinterest-automatic-plugin/CVE reference
- https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/ffd344fd-de2c-4f27-8932-41aa0a3c3d05CVE reference
- https://www.acunetix.com/vulnerabilities/web/wordpress-plugin-pinterest-automatic-pin-security-bypass-4-14-3/CVE 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.