The Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin is a popular addition to WordPress websites, enabling the integration of customizable AI chatbots into your site for various purposes, such as customer support, sales, or information retrieval. Unfortunately, a security vulnerability has been discovered in the plugin, specifically in versions up to and including 2.1.7, which could potentially allow unauthorized modification of data by authenticated attackers with minimal access privileges. Here, we will discuss this vulnerability, CVE-2024-10530, including its origin, exploit details, and the code snippet responsible for the issue.

Vulnerability Details

CVE-2024-10530 is a vulnerability found in the Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin, a plugin that is popular amongst WordPress users for incorporating conversational AI solutions into their sites. Due to a missing capability check in the add_new_assistant() function, authenticated attackers with subscriber-level access or higher can create new GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) assistants on the target website. This allows unauthorized users to potentially create malicious chatbot assistants, influence the behavior and responses of the chatbot, or alter the customer experience on the website overall.

The following code snippet, present in the add_new_assistant() function in the vulnerable plugin versions, lacks the necessary user access level or capability check to ensure only authorized users can create new chatbot assistants:

function add_new_assistant() {
  // Vulnerable code: Missing capability check

  global $wpdb;

  // Gathering and sanitizing data from form submission
  $assistant_name = sanitize_text_field($_POST['assistant_name']);
  $chatbot_prompt = sanitize_textarea_field($_POST['chatbot_prompt']);

  // .... (Code continues)
}

For a more comprehensive understanding of the plugin source code and the related vulnerability, we recommend checking out the original WordPress plugin page at Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress as well as documentation on the WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook on Capabilities.

Exploit Details

In order to exploit the CVE-2024-10530 vulnerability, an attacker must first gain authenticated access to the target WordPress site, with a minimum access level of a subscriber. This is less restrictive than other roles such as administrator or editor, making it an easier target for exploitation.

Once the attacker has gained access, they can utilize the vulnerability in the add_new_assistant() function to create new GTP assistants, bypassing any authorization checks that should have been in place. This enables the attacker to potentially inject malicious code or modify the functionality of the chatbot assistant on the website without the website owner's consent.

To fix this vulnerability, it is advised to update the Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin to a more secure version, or implement a server-side capability check in the add_new_assistant() function to ensure that only authenticated users with the appropriate access level can create new chatbot assistants.

Conclusion

In conclusion, CVE-2024-10530 represents a significant vulnerability affecting the Kognetiks Chatbot for WordPress plugin, in versions up to and including 2.1.7, and should be addressed as soon as possible to avoid potential unauthorized modification of data on affected websites. By updating the plugin to a fixed version, or introducing proper server-side capability checks into the add_new_assistant() function, website owners can protect their WordPress sites from this threatening vulnerability.

Timeline

Published on: 11/13/2024 03:15:03 UTC
Last modified on: 11/18/2024 14:59:30 UTC