{"id":56888,"date":"2025-07-03T12:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:14:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:36:40","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:36:40","slug":"cve-2024-12827-privilege-escalation-via-account-takeover-in-dwt-directory-listing-wordpress-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-12827-privilege-escalation-via-account-takeover-in-dwt-directory-listing-wordpress-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2024-12827: Privilege Escalation Via Account Takeover in DWT &#8211; Directory &#038; Listing WordPress Theme<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the DWT &#8211; Directory &#038; Listing WordPress Theme for WordPress, which can potentially allow unauthorized users to escalate their privileges via account takeover. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2024-12827 and impacts all versions up to, and including, 3.3.6 of the mentioned theme. If exploited, attackers can gain access to the victim&#8217;s account, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6370-critical-vulnerability-in-d-link-dir-619l-2-06b01-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63596\">potentially leading to system<\/a> compromise or data leakage. This is a significant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6755-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-leads-to-arbitrary-file-deletion\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65644\">vulnerability as it affects a vast number of WordPress<\/a> websites using this theme, making it a critical cybersecurity issue that needs immediate attention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2024-12827<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (CVSS: 9.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: Account takeover, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5867-critical-vulnerability-in-rt-thread-5-1-0-leading-to-system-compromise-or-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64495\">system compromise<\/a>, and potential data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-2656098342\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>DWT &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8218-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-real-spaces-wordpress-properties-directory-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81692\">Directory &#038; Listing WordPress<\/a> Theme | Up to and including 3.3.6<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8038-high-severity-navigation-validation-vulnerability-in-firefox-and-thunderbird\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69836\">vulnerability originates from an insufficient validity<\/a> check in the dwt_listing_reset_password() function of the DWT &#8211; Directory &#038; Listing WordPress Theme. The plugin does not properly check for an empty token value <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52560-critical-password-reset-vulnerability-in-kanboard-prior-to-1-2-46\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65432\">prior to resetting a user&#8217;s password<\/a>. This allows an attacker to send a password reset request with an empty token value, which the function will mistakenly process, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-47294-critical-vulnerability-in-ncr-terminal-handler-v1-5-1-allows-user-account-manipulation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63755\">allowing the attacker to reset arbitrary user<\/a> passwords, including those of administrators. Once the password is reset, attackers can easily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52571-unauthenticated-access-to-telegram-account-and-server-via-hikka-userbot\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64494\">access and take over the account<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-204710770\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a conceptual example of how an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-42959-unauthenticated-replay-attack-exploiting-hmac-reuse\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"76122\">attacker might exploit<\/a> this vulnerability. In this case, the attacker sends a POST request to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-43932-account-takeover-vulnerability-in-jobcenter-through-password-reset-feature\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"76121\">password reset<\/a> endpoint with an empty token value:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php?action=dwt_listing_reset_password HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\nuser_login=admin&amp;rp_key=&amp;rp_login=admin<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker targets the &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2020-9322-statamic-core-xss-vulnerability-leading-to-unauthorized-admin-account-creation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"80301\">admin&#8217; account<\/a>, using an empty &#8216;rp_key&#8217; (reset password key), which should ideally be a random string generated by the server to authenticate password reset requests.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The ultimate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5310-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-dover-fueling-solutions-progauge-maglink-lx-consoles\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65645\">solution to this vulnerability<\/a> is to apply the vendor-provided patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can offer temporary mitigation. Monitor for any suspicious password reset requests and consider implementing additional safeguards, such as multi-factor authentication, to protect against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2024-45347-unauthorized-access-vulnerability-in-xiaomi-mi-connect-service-app\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63595\">unauthorized account access<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the DWT &#8211; Directory &#038; Listing WordPress Theme for WordPress, which can potentially allow unauthorized users to escalate their privileges via account takeover. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2024-12827 and impacts all versions up to, and including, 3.3.6 of the mentioned theme. If exploited, attackers can gain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[76],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-56888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-privilege-escalation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56888"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74145,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56888\/revisions\/74145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=56888"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=56888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}