Urgent Security Advisory — CVE-2024-11721: Privilege Escalation in “Frontend Admin by DynamiApps” (≤ 3.24.5)

Date: 2026-02-03   |   Author: Hong Kong Security Expert

Summary: A critical unauthenticated privilege escalation vulnerability (CVE-2024-11721, CVSS 8.1) affecting the WordPress plugin “Frontend Admin by DynamiApps” (versions ≤ 3.24.5, fixed in 3.25.1) has been disclosed. This flaw can allow an attacker with no prior authentication to escalate privileges on a site, potentially leading to full site takeover. This advisory explains the risk, how the vulnerability works in practical terms, signs of exploitation, immediate mitigations, incident response steps, and long-term hardening recommendations — written with a practical Hong Kong security expert tone.

Table of contents

• What happened (short)
• Technical overview of the vulnerability
• How an attacker can exploit it (practical scenario)
• Immediate risk and business impact
• Emergency detection steps and forensic checks
• Immediate mitigations you can apply right now
• Emergency WAF / virtual patch recommendations
• Practical log queries & WP-CLI commands
• Post-incident clean-up and recovery steps
• Long-term recommendations: prevention and operational security
• Conclusion and 12-point urgent checklist

What happened (short)

On 3 February 2026 a high-severity unauthenticated privilege escalation affecting the “Frontend Admin by DynamiApps” plugin (versions up to and including 3.24.5) was published and assigned CVE-2024-11721. The vendor released a fix in version 3.25.1. The flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to trigger privileged operations (for example, creating or promoting users) because certain endpoints do not properly validate request origin or user privileges. Immediate action is required for any site running the affected versions.

Technical overview

• Affected software: Frontend Admin by DynamiApps (WordPress plugin), versions ≤ 3.24.5
• Fixed in: 3.25.1
• Vulnerability type: Privilege Escalation (improper authorization)
• Attack vector: Remote / unauthenticated
• CVSS v3.1 base score: 8.1
• OWASP mapping: Identification and Authentication Failures (authorization logic issues)
• Required privileges: None — unauthenticated attacker can trigger the vulnerable functionality
• Impact: Confidentiality / Integrity / Availability — High (possible full site takeover)

At a high level, a plugin endpoint (AJAX or REST handler intended to provide front-end administrative features) fails to check the requester’s identity or capabilities correctly before performing sensitive operations such as creating/modifying users, changing roles/capabilities, or updating options. Remote unauthenticated requests can therefore influence privileged application state.

How an attacker can exploit it — practical scenario

1. Reconnaissance: Attacker scans sites for the plugin via plugin folder names, known script endpoints, or REST routes.
2. Find the entry point: Identify a public endpoint (REST route or admin-ajax action) that accepts parameters affecting application state.
3. Send crafted requests: Send POST/GET requests with parameters that normally require admin privileges (role, capabilities, create_user, update_user_meta, toggle_option).
4. Privilege escalation: Endpoint lacks proper checks and updates database — e.g., creates an admin user or promotes an existing user to administrator.
5. Post-exploitation: With elevated privileges, attacker installs backdoors, creates persistent accounts, modifies files, schedules malicious cron jobs, exfiltrates data, or pivots to internal systems.

Because the vulnerability is unauthenticated, the attacker only needs the site to be reachable — no credentials required.

Immediate risk and business impact

If exploited, an attacker can:

• Create administrator accounts to maintain access.
• Install malicious plugins or modify theme/core files to persist.
• Exfiltrate user data (emails, hashed passwords, personal data).
• Deploy ransomware or crypto-miners.
• Deface the website or send phishing emails from your domain.
• Use the site as a pivot to attack internal resources.

Business impact ranges from reputational harm and lost revenue to regulatory penalties depending on data exposure. Treat this as a high-priority incident and act immediately.

Emergency detection: what to look for now

If your site uses the plugin (≤ 3.24.5), check for signs of abuse immediately.

High-priority checks

1. List administrator users
   Use WP-CLI (run under the site owner account / proper permissions):

   wp user list --role=administrator --fields=ID,user_login,user_email,display_name

   Look for unfamiliar accounts, recent creation dates, or suspicious emails.

2. User metadata
   Query wp_usermeta for recent role changes or unexpected modifications.
3. File changes
   Check for modified files under wp-content/plugins, wp-content/themes, and uploads. Use git, checksums, or filesystem timestamps.
4. Scheduled tasks
   List WP-Cron events:

   wp cron event list

5. Web server logs
   Search access logs for POSTs or unusual GETs to plugin paths such as:
   /wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element/ and plugin-specific REST routes.
   Example:

   zgrep -i "acf-frontend-form-element" /var/log/nginx/*access*.log* | tail -n 200
   zgrep -i "frontend-admin" /var/log/apache2/*access*.log*

6. Indicators of Compromise (IoCs)
   Unexpected admin users; files with injected PHP (base64, eval, system, file_get_contents from remote); suspicious outbound connections; unknown scheduled tasks running PHP scripts.

Collect logs and artifacts (copy them to a safe location) before making disruptive changes so forensic work can proceed if needed.

Immediate mitigations you can apply right now

Apply layered mitigations: patch when possible, otherwise disable or restrict the vulnerable surface and harden the site.

1. Update the plugin (primary action)
   Upgrade to 3.25.1 or later as soon as possible. This is the definitive fix.
2. Disable the plugin if you cannot patch immediately
   – Via WP admin: Plugins → deactivate “Frontend Admin by DynamiApps”.
   – If admin is inaccessible, rename the plugin folder via SSH/SFTP:

   mv wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element__disabled

3. Restrict access to plugin files/endpoints
   Deny public access to plugin PHP endpoints with web server configuration. Example nginx rule (temporary):

   location ~* /wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element/.*\.php$ {
       deny all;
       return 403;
   }

   Note: this may break legitimate front-end features — use only as an emergency measure.

4. Block or rate-limit suspicious requests at the perimeter
   Use your reverse proxy, CDN, or firewall to block POSTs and requests matching suspicious parameter patterns targeting known plugin paths. Apply rate-limiting and consider temporary geo-blocking if you can attribute attack sources.
5. Audit and secure admin accounts
   Reset passwords for all administrators and force logout of all sessions (invalidate cookies). Enforce 2FA for privileged users where possible.
6. Rotate secrets
   If compromise is suspected, rotate API keys, OAuth tokens, and any stored credentials used by the site.
7. Backups
   Ensure you have recent clean off-site backups. Preserve existing backups as evidence until you identify safe restore points.

Emergency WAF / virtual patch recommendations

Virtual patching at the perimeter can reduce risk while you patch and investigate. Below are conservative, generic examples — adapt and test to your environment.

General idea: block unauthenticated requests to plugin-specific paths and requests that include parameters clearly intended to change roles or create admins.

ModSecurity-style pseudo-rule (concept)

SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx /wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element/|/wp-json/.*frontend-admin.*|frontend-admin" \
  "id:100001,phase:1,track:IP,block,msg:'Blocked potential exploit targeting Frontend Admin plugin',severity:2"

SecRule ARGS|REQUEST_BODY "@rx (role=|role_name=|user_role=|create_admin=|set_role=|new_user_role=admin|capability=)" \
  "id:100002,phase:2,chain,deny,msg:'Attempt to set administrative role via plugin endpoint',log"
  SecRule REQUEST_URI "@rx /wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element/|/wp-json/.*frontend-admin.*"

nginx example (temporary)

location ~* /wp-content/plugins/acf-frontend-form-element/(.*) {
    if ($request_method ~* "(POST|PUT|DELETE)") {
        return 403;
    }
}

Conceptual WordPress-level rule

• Condition: Request path contains plugin slug OR request body contains suspicious parameter names AND user is not authenticated (no valid cookie or missing nonce).
• Action: Block (403), log, and alert.

Operational notes:

• Monitor blocked attempts and alert on spikes — sustained activity likely means active exploitation.
• Log full requests for blocked hits (store offsite) for forensics, but redact or avoid storing PII where possible.

Practical log queries & WP-CLI commands you should run now

1. Find POSTs to the plugin path in Nginx logs

   zgrep -i "acf-frontend-form-element" /var/log/nginx/*access*.log* | grep POST | tail -n 200

2. Check for new administrator users in the last 7 days

   wp user list --role=administrator --fields=ID,user_login,user_email,user_registered --format=csv | awk -F, '$4 >= "'$(date --date="7 days ago" +%Y-%m-%d)'" {print}'

3. List recently modified files

   find wp-content/uploads -type f -mtime -7 -ls
   find wp-content/plugins -type f -mtime -7 -ls

4. Search for suspicious PHP eval usage

   grep -R --exclude-dir=vendor -n --binary-files=without-match -E "eval\(|base64_decode\(|gzinflate\(" .

5. Dump active scheduled events

   wp cron event list --fields=hook,next_run

Save results as part of your incident package.

Post-incident clean-up and recovery steps

If you find evidence of compromise, follow a disciplined recovery process.

1. Isolate the site
   Put the site into maintenance mode or disconnect network access where possible to stop further damage and exfiltration.
2. Preserve artifacts
   Make copies of logs, database dumps, and filesystem snapshots for analysis.
3. Remove malicious artifacts
   Remove unknown admin users (document first), delete backdoors and suspicious plugins/themes, and replace modified core/plugin/theme files with known-good copies from trusted sources.
4. Reissue credentials
   Reset all admin passwords and rotate API keys and third-party credentials.
5. Harden and restore
   Update WordPress core, plugins, and themes. Re-enable monitoring and perimeter protections. Run a full malware scan.
6. Review and report
   Prepare an incident report: timeline, root cause, scope, and corrective actions. If customer data was exposed, follow local legal and regulatory disclosure requirements.

If the site is heavily compromised or you lack internal resources, restore a clean backup from before the compromise and then apply updates and hardening before returning the site to production.

Long-term risk reduction and best practices

• Principle of least privilege — minimise the number of admin users; avoid shared admin accounts.
• Strong authentication — enforce strong passwords and 2FA for privileged users; use SSO where appropriate.
• Keep software up to date — patch WordPress core, plugins, and themes promptly.
• Harden plugin use — audit installed plugins; remove unused or abandoned plugins; prefer actively maintained plugins with clear security policies.
• Perimeter protections and virtual patching — maintain perimeter controls that can apply temporary virtual patches for zero-days until vendor fixes are available.
• Continuous monitoring — enable file integrity monitoring, centralised log collection, and alerting.
• Backups and restore testing — maintain frequent offsite backups and test restore procedures regularly.
• Developer security hygiene — code reviews, static analysis, and secure development practices for custom code.
• Incident response readiness — maintain an incident response plan and contacts for internal and external assistance.

Practical checklist — what to do now (12 steps)

1. Identify if your site uses the plugin (check plugin list and plugin folder).
2. If running version ≤ 3.24.5, update to 3.25.1 immediately.
3. If you cannot update immediately, deactivate or move the plugin folder to disable it.
4. Apply perimeter rules to block access to plugin endpoints and suspicious POST requests targeting the plugin.
5. Audit admin users and remove/disable unauthorized accounts. Reset passwords and sessions.
6. Search logs for POST requests or traffic targeting plugin endpoints; collect logs for forensics.
7. Look for file modifications or injected PHP and remove any confirmed malicious files.
8. Rotate API tokens, OAuth credentials, and database passwords if compromise is suspected.
9. Ensure recent clean backups are available and tested.
10. Re-scan the site with malware scanners and verify integrity of WordPress core, plugins, and themes.
11. Implement 2FA for all privileged accounts and enforce least privilege.
12. Consider engaging a trusted incident response provider or security consultant for assistance and perimeter protection until remediation is complete.

Final words

This vulnerability is a reminder: any plugin exposing privileged actions to the public web must validate origin and requester capabilities properly. An unauthenticated privilege escalation can enable a full site takeover with minimal effort from an attacker.

If your site uses the affected plugin, act without delay — update to 3.25.1 now, or apply the emergency mitigations above. If you find evidence of compromise, preserve artifacts, conduct or commission a proper forensic investigation, and follow the clean-up steps in this advisory.

Stay vigilant. Treat privilege escalation flaws as high priority — they commonly lead to widespread impact if left unaddressed.

— Hong Kong Security Expert