Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2022-38070 affects the WordPress Pop-up plugin up to version 1.1.5. A logged-in user with subscriber-level access or higher may be able to escalate privileges. The published score is medium, but exposure matters if public registration or many low-privilege users are enabled.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation on externally accessible WordPress sites with public registration, customer accounts, or many subscribers. Internal or tightly controlled sites are lower urgency, but affected plugin versions should still be resolved during normal vulnerability management.
Technical view
The source bundle describes a subscriber+ privilege escalation issue in Pop-up for WordPress versions <= 1.1.5. CVSS 3.1 is 5.4 with network attack vector, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, unchanged scope, and low integrity and availability impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to WordPress sites that have the Pop-up plugin installed at version 1.1.5 or earlier and allow low-privileged authenticated users. Sites without this plugin are not affected based on the provided evidence.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability is still operationally relevant because it requires only a low-privilege authenticated account and no user interaction.
Researcher notes
The bundle identifies the issue class and affected version range but does not include exploit details, a fixed version, or vendor remediation text. Avoid assuming full administrator takeover; the CVSS impact is low integrity and low availability.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory WordPress sites for the Pop-up plugin and installed version.
- Treat Pop-up versions <= 1.1.5 as affected.
- Check Patchstack and WordPress plugin guidance for fixed versions or vendor instructions.
- Disable or remove the plugin where business impact allows until guidance is confirmed.
- Review subscriber registration settings and unnecessary low-privilege accounts.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether the plugin slug pop-up-pop-up is installed on each WordPress site.
- Record the installed version and flag any version <= 1.1.5.
- Check whether public user registration or subscriber accounts are enabled.
- Review recent low-privilege account activity for unexpected administrative changes.
- Document remediation status and any compensating controls per site.
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-264: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. 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-2022-38070 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
- Medium
- CVSS
- 5.4 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
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:U/C:N/I:L/A:L2.82.5Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
5.4MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://patchstack.com/database/vulnerability/pop-up-pop-up/wordpress-pop-up-plugin-1-1-5-privilege-escalation-vulnerability/_s_id=cveCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://wordpress.org/plugins/pop-up-pop-up/#developersCVE 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.
Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.