CVE-2023-39992: Unauthenticated Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability Found in vCita.com Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar for WordPress by Vcita Plugin Versions 4.3.2 and Earlier

A new security vulnerability has been identified and tracked as CVE-2023-39992, which involves an unauthenticated Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the vcita.com Online Booking & Scheduling Calendar for WordPress developed by vcita. This vulnerability affects plugin versions up to and including 4.3.2. Reflected XSS attacks can be used by an attacker to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users, possibly leading to data theft, account compromise, or other malicious actions.

In this post, we will discuss the vulnerability and provide a code snippet for demonstrating the exploit, along with links to original references. Please note that the information provided in this post is for educational and informational purposes only.

Technical Details

The vulnerability resides within the wp-vcita/vcita.com plugin, specifically in the vcita.com_wrapper.php file. As a part of its functionality, the plugin uses the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] parameter to construct URLs for various endpoints. However, it does not properly sanitize the input when using the parameter, leading to the possibility of executing a Reflected XSS attack.

Exploitation Steps

To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker can craft a malicious URL containing a script payload that is executed when a user clicks on the link or visits the affected website. The payload is then included in the $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] parameter and gets reflected in the resulting HTML markup.

Here's an example of an exploit URL

http://victim-website.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-vcita/vcita.com/vcita.com_wrapper.php?%22%3E%3Cscript%3Ealert(document.cookie)%3C/script%3E=test

When a user visits the link above, the injected script will trigger a JavaScript alert displaying the user's cookies.

Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, users are advised to update the wp-vcita/vcita.com plugin to the latest version as soon as possible. In addition, it's essential to consistently maintain proper filtering and input sanitization techniques to ensure the security of user data and the integrity of web applications.

For more information on the vulnerability, please refer to the following sources

- CVE-2023-39992 Vulnerability Report
- Vulnerability assessment by the WordPress Vulnerability Database
- Official Plugin Page on WordPress.org

Conclusion

Security vulnerabilities like unauthenticated Reflected XSS can have a significant impact on websites and their users, potentially resulting in data theft and account compromise. It's essential to regularly update plugins and implement strong security practices to protect users and maintain the integrity of web applications. In the case of the CVE-2023-39992 vulnerability, updating the wp-vcita/vcita.com plugin to the latest version is the recommended mitigation.

Timeline

Published on: 09/04/2023 11:15:41 UTC
Last modified on: 09/06/2023 22:32:25 UTC