{"id":"CVE-2024-9161","state":"PUBLISHED","title":"Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings <= 1.0.228 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated User and Term Metadata Insert, Update, and Delete","description":"The Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification and loss of data due to a missing capability check on the 'update_metadata' function in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.228. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to insert new and update existing metadata beginning with 'rank_math', and delete arbitrary existing user metadata and term metadata. Deleting existing usermeta can cause a loss of access to the administrator dashboard for any registered users, including Administrators.","publishedAt":"2024-10-05T11:21:19.388Z","updatedAt":"2026-04-08T17:02:59.949Z","severity":{"score":6.5,"label":"Medium","version":"3.1","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L","source":"Wordfence"},"assigner":"Wordfence","products":["rankmath Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings"],"affected":[{"vendor":"rankmath","product":"Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThanOrEqual":"1.0.228","versionType":"semver"}]}],"references":["https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7df39a64-76c5-4ebe-a271-44bd147a3a86?source=cve","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L120","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L161","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L162","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L64","https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3161896/"],"weaknesses":["CWE-862"],"ingestedAt":"2026-10-29T20:08:20.985Z","source":{"repository":"CVEProject/cvelistV5","path":"cves/2024/9xxx/CVE-2024-9161.json","commit":"556c9d3a8cd17e218bb8e452ba7cd619a384ff47"},"raw":{"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2","cveMetadata":{"cveId":"CVE-2024-9161","state":"PUBLISHED","datePublished":"2024-10-05T11:21:19.388Z","dateUpdated":"2026-04-08T17:02:59.949Z","assignerShortName":"Wordfence","assignerOrgId":"b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599","dateReserved":"2024-09-24T18:07:48.981Z"},"containers":{"cna":{"title":"Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings <= 1.0.228 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated User and Term Metadata Insert, Update, and Delete","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"The Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification and loss of data due to a missing capability check on the 'update_metadata' function in all versions up to, and including, 1.0.228. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to insert new and update existing metadata beginning with 'rank_math', and delete arbitrary existing user metadata and term metadata. Deleting existing usermeta can cause a loss of access to the administrator dashboard for any registered users, including Administrators."}],"affected":[{"vendor":"rankmath","product":"Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings","defaultStatus":"unaffected","versions":[{"version":"0","status":"affected","lessThanOrEqual":"1.0.228","versionType":"semver"}]}],"references":[{"url":"https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7df39a64-76c5-4ebe-a271-44bd147a3a86?source=cve"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L120"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L161"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L162"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/seo-by-rank-math/trunk/includes/rest/class-shared.php#L64"},{"url":"https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3161896/"}],"metrics":[{"cvssV3_1":{"version":"3.1","vectorString":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L","baseScore":6.5,"baseSeverity":"MEDIUM"}}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-862","lang":"en","description":"CWE-862 Missing Authorization","type":"CWE"}]}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"Wordfence","orgId":"b15e7b5b-3da4-40ae-a43c-f7aa60e62599","dateUpdated":"2026-04-08T17:02:59.949Z"},"credits":[{"lang":"en","type":"finder","value":"Leo Trinh"}],"timeline":[{"time":"2024-10-04T00:00:00.000Z","lang":"en","value":"Disclosed"}]},"adp":[{"title":"CISA ADP Vulnrichment","metrics":[{"other":{"type":"ssvc","content":{"timestamp":"2024-10-07T16:14:34.269074Z","id":"CVE-2024-9161","options":[{"Exploitation":"none"},{"Automatable":"no"},{"Technical Impact":"partial"}],"role":"CISA Coordinator","version":"2.0.3"}}}],"providerMetadata":{"shortName":"CISA-ADP","orgId":"134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0","dateUpdated":"2024-10-07T16:14:57.624Z"}}]}}}