"CVE-2024-3916: Unpatched Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Vulnerability in Swift Framework Plugin for WordPress"

The Swift Framework plugin for WordPress has been identified to be vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks, which could potentially put a lot of websites at risk. The plugin versions affected by this vulnerability are all versions up to and including 2.7.31. The reason behind this vulnerability is the insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user-supplied attributes in some of the plugin's shortcodes. This allows authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access or above, to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages that will execute whenever a user visits a page containing the injected script.

A detailed explanation of the vulnerability, along with some code snippets, will be provided in this post. Please note that the vendor has not been responsive to our attempts to share the vulnerability details with them, which means there is currently no patch available for this issue.

Exploit Details

The Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in the Swift Framework plugin for WordPress is due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on several of the plugin's shortcodes, which allow user-supplied attributes. An attacker with contributor-level access or above could exploit this vulnerability by injecting a crafted JavaScript payload into one of these shortcodes.

Below is a code snippet illustrating a straightforward example of exploiting this vulnerability

[swf_team_member name="<script>alert('XSS')</script>" image="" title="" email="" phone="" twitter="" skype="" linkedin="" facebook="" url=""]

In this example, the attacker injects a simple JavaScript payload alert('XSS') to display an alert pop-up when the page is opened by an unsuspecting user. This payload is included in the name attribute of the swf_team_member shortcode, which, due to the lack of proper input sanitization and output escaping, will render the injected script as part of the web page, resulting in the Stored Cross-Site Scripting attack.

Original References

1. OWASP: Cross-site Scripting (XSS))
2. WordPress Swift Framework Plugin Homepage

Impact

If this vulnerability were to be successfully exploited, it could lead to a wide range of consequences depending on the attacker's intentions. Since the attacker can inject arbitrary web scripts, some of the potential impacts include redirecting users to malicious websites, defacement of the vulnerable site, or even stealing confidential information such as session cookies, login credentials, or personally identifiable information (PII).

Mitigation

Currently, there is no patch available from the vendor for this vulnerability in the Swift Framework plugin for WordPress. We recommend users to be cautious and ensure that only trusted users have contributor-level access or higher on their WordPress installations. Additionally, monitoring for unauthorized changes to website content might help in detecting an attempted exploitation.

Conclusion

The Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in the Swift Framework plugin for WordPress (all versions up to and including 2.7.31) is a serious security issue that requires immediate attention. Although there is no patch available at the moment, website administrators should review user accounts and restrict contributor-level access to trusted individuals. It is crucial to be proactive and vigilant when it comes to website security to avoid potential exploitation by malicious actors.

Timeline

Published on: 05/14/2024 15:42:34 UTC
Last modified on: 05/14/2024 16:11:39 UTC