What is CVE-2024-10542?

CVE-2024-10542 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Cleantalk Anti-Spam, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2024-11-26.

How severe is CVE-2024-10542?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2024-10542 known to be exploited?

5 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Auth bypass in Cleantalk Anti-Spam

CVE-2024-10542

The Spam protection, Anti-Spam, FireWall by CleanTalk plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized Arbitrary Plugin Installation due to an authorization bypass via reverse DNS spoofing on the checkWithoutToken function in all versions up to, and including, 6.43.2. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to install and activate arbitrary plugins which can be leveraged to achieve remote code execution if another vulnerable plugin is installed and activated.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published 2024-11-26 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.154 (96.8th percentile), scored 2026-10-20.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 97th percentile — 96.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.154 · newest: 0.154 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Cleantalk Anti-Spam
Cleantalk Spam Protection, Honeypot, Anti-Spam By — versions 0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-862 — Missing Authorization

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/d7eb5fad-bb62-4f0b-ad52-b16c3… (Third Party Advisory)
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/cleantalk-spam-protect/tags/6.43.2/lib/Clean… (Product)
plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3179819/cleantalk-spam-protect (Patch)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-10542?: CVE-2024-10542 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Cleantalk Anti-Spam, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2024-11-26.
How severe is CVE-2024-10542?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2024-10542 known to be exploited?: 5 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.