The Simple:Press plugin (versions up to and including 6.8) for WordPress has been found vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks. The vulnerability lies in the 'postitem' parameter, which can be manipulated during a forum response. Insufficient input sanitization and output escaping make the injection of object and embed tags possible. Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability to inject arbitrary web scripts in forum response pages to execute malicious code when a user accesses the injected page.

Exploit Details

The Simple:Press plugin (link to plugin) for WordPress provides an advanced and feature-rich forum solution for WordPress sites. In versions up to and including 6.8, the plugin suffers from a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability.

The vulnerability can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers while responding to forum threads. The 'postitem' parameter is not properly sanitized and output escaped. This allows the attacker to inject object and embed tags into the forum response, which could contain malicious web scripts.

Example Code Snippet

Here's an example of how an attacker can exploit this vulnerability. In the following code snippet, the malicious JavaScript code is injected into the 'postitem' parameter when responding to a forum thread:

POST /forum/?sp_ahah=post&sfnonce=xxxxxx&ahahaction=addpost&action=forum&threadid=xxxxxx HTTP/1.1
Host: victim.com
...

postitem=<object><embed>
                     <script>
                     alert('XSS Vulnerability!');
                     </script>
                     </embed>
                  </object>

When a user accesses the page with the injected code, the malicious JavaScript code will execute.

Mitigation

Users of the Simple:Press plugin should update to the latest version immediately as it includes fixes for the vulnerability. The plugin developers need to ensure proper input sanitization and output escaping are applied to protect against such vulnerabilities.

You can find more information about this vulnerability and its patch details in the following references:

1. CVE-2022-4027 on NVD
2. Original report of Vulnerability
3. Security update release notes

The vulnerability (CVE-2022-4027) in the Simple:Press plugin highlights the importance of ensuring that plugins are updated regularly and the need to follow best practices in securing WordPress sites. Both developers and users should pay close attention to security concerns related to plugins they create or use.

Timeline

Published on: 11/29/2022 21:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 12/01/2022 19:57:00 UTC