📄 Description (English)
wpForo Forum 2.4.14 contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows authenticated subscribers to move, merge, or split any forum topic via the topic_move, topic_merge, and topic_split form action handlers. Attackers with a valid form nonce can reorganize arbitrary forum content without moderator permissions, including relocating topics to private forums.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
wpForo Forum 2.4.14 contains a critical authorization bypass vulnerability (CVE-2026-28556) allowing authenticated subscribers to manipulate forum topics without proper permissions. Attackers can move, merge, or split any forum topic, including relocating content to private forums, by exploiting missing authorization checks in form handlers. This vulnerability affects WordPress installations using wpForo and poses significant risks to organizations relying on forum-based communication and knowledge management.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: May 28, 2026 00:20
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
Saudi organizations using wpForo for internal communications, knowledge management, or customer engagement platforms are at risk. Most affected sectors include: Government agencies using WordPress-based portals for citizen engagement, Banking sector for customer support forums, Telecommunications companies (STC, Mobily) for customer service platforms, Healthcare institutions for patient education forums, and Educational institutions for student collaboration. The vulnerability allows unauthorized reorganization of sensitive discussions, potential exposure of private forum content, and disruption of organizational knowledge management systems.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Government
Banking
Telecommunications
Healthcare
Education
Energy
Retail
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
6.8
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
Immediate Actions:
1. Audit all wpForo installations in your environment and identify version 2.4.14 deployments
2. Review forum access logs for suspicious topic movement, merge, or split activities
3. Implement IP-based access restrictions to forum administration functions
4. Disable forum topic management features for non-moderator roles if possible
Patching Guidance:
1. Contact wpForo developers for security patch availability timeline
2. Prepare upgrade plan to latest patched version once available
3. Test patches in staging environment before production deployment
Compensating Controls (until patch available):
1. Implement WordPress role-based access control (RBAC) plugins to restrict topic management capabilities
2. Deploy Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to monitor and block topic_move, topic_merge, topic_split form submissions from non-moderator accounts
3. Enable WordPress audit logging for all forum-related actions
4. Restrict forum access to trusted internal networks only
5. Implement form nonce validation at application level
Detection Rules:
1. Monitor for POST requests containing 'topic_move', 'topic_merge', or 'topic_split' parameters from non-admin user accounts
2. Alert on topic relocations to private forums by non-moderator users
3. Track bulk topic modifications within short timeframes
4. Monitor WordPress user role escalation attempts
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تدقيق جميع تثبيتات wpForo في بيئتك وتحديد نشرات الإصدار 2.4.14
2. مراجعة سجلات الوصول للمنتدى للبحث عن أنشطة حركة الموضوع المريبة
3. تنفيذ قيود الوصول القائمة على عنوان IP لوظائف إدارة المنتدى
4. تعطيل ميزات إدارة موضوع المنتدى للأدوار غير المشرفة إن أمكن
إرشادات التصحيح:
1. الاتصال بمطوري wpForo للحصول على جدول زمني لتوفر التصحيح الأمني
2. تحضير خطة الترقية إلى أحدث إصدار مصحح بمجرد توفره
3. اختبار التصحيحات في بيئة التجريب قبل نشرها في الإنتاج
الضوابط البديلة (حتى توفر التصحيح):
1. تنفيذ مكونات إضافية للتحكم في الوصول القائمة على الأدوار في WordPress لتقييد قدرات إدارة الموضوع
2. نشر قواعد جدار حماية تطبيقات الويب (WAF) لمراقبة وحظر عمليات الإرسال من حسابات غير المشرفين
3. تفعيل تسجيل التدقيق في WordPress لجميع الإجراءات المتعلقة بالمنتدى
4. تقييد الوصول إلى المنتدى بالشبكات الداخلية الموثوقة فقط
5. تنفيذ التحقق من صحة نموذج nonce على مستوى التطبيق
قواعد الكشف:
1. مراقبة طلبات POST التي تحتوي على معاملات 'topic_move' أو 'topic_merge' أو 'topic_split' من حسابات المستخدمين غير المسؤولين
2. التنبيه على نقل الموضوع إلى منتديات خاصة من قبل المستخدمين غير المشرفين
3. تتبع تعديلات الموضوع الضخمة في فترات زمنية قصيرة
4. مراقبة محاولات تصعيد دور مستخدم WordPress
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2024 A.5.1.1 - Access Control Policy
ECC 2024 A.5.2.1 - User Registration and Access Rights Management
ECC 2024 A.5.3.1 - Password Management
ECC 2024 A.8.1.1 - Information Security Incident Management
ECC 2024 A.12.4.1 - Event Logging
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF ID.AC-1 - Access Control and Identity Management
SAMA CSF PR.AC-1 - Processes and procedures for access management
SAMA CSF DE.AE-1 - Anomalies and Events Detection
SAMA CSF RS.AN-1 - Incident Analysis
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.2 - User Access Management
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.3 - Access Control
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.1 - Information Security Incident Management
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.2 - Monitoring and Review of Information Security
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
PCI DSS 2.1 - Establish configuration standards
PCI DSS 6.2 - Security patches and updates
PCI DSS 7.1 - Limit access to system components
PCI DSS 10.2 - Implement automated audit trails
🔗 References & Sources 3
🔗
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforo/
disclosure@vulncheck.com
Product
🔗
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpforo/#developers
disclosure@vulncheck.com
Release Notes
🔗
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/wpforo-forum-missing-authorization-via-topic-manag...
disclosure@vulncheck.com
Third Party Advisory
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
gvectors:wpforo_forum