CVE-2015-9429 in yith-maintenance-mode Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The yith-maintenance-mode plugin before 1.2.0 for WordPress has CSRF with resultant XSS via the wp-admin/themes.php?page=yith-maintenance-mode panel_page parameter.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/28/2023
The yith-maintenance-mode plugin for WordPress prior to version 1.2.0 contained a critical security vulnerability that combined cross-site request forgery with cross-site scripting flaws, creating a dangerous attack vector for malicious actors targeting WordPress installations. This vulnerability specifically affected the plugin's administrative interface, where the wp-admin/themes.php?page=yith-maintenance-mode panel_page parameter was susceptible to manipulation without proper authentication checks. The flaw existed within the plugin's handling of administrative requests, allowing unauthorized users to execute malicious code on vulnerable systems through crafted requests that exploited the missing CSRF protection mechanisms.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stemmed from inadequate input validation and authentication checks within the plugin's admin panel. When users accessed the maintenance mode settings page through the wp-admin/themes.php endpoint, the panel_page parameter was not properly sanitized or verified against authenticated session tokens. This absence of CSRF protection meant that attackers could craft malicious requests that would be executed with the privileges of authenticated administrators, particularly those with sufficient permissions to modify plugin settings. The vulnerability allowed for arbitrary code execution within the context of the WordPress admin environment, making it particularly dangerous for attackers seeking to establish persistent access or escalate privileges within compromised WordPress installations.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extended beyond simple XSS exploitation, as it provided attackers with the ability to manipulate critical system configurations through the maintenance mode plugin interface. An attacker could potentially redirect users to malicious sites, inject malicious scripts into the admin interface, or modify maintenance mode settings to disable security protections entirely. The vulnerability was particularly concerning because it required no special privileges to exploit, as long as the attacker could convince a logged-in administrator to visit a malicious page or click on a crafted link. This made the attack surface particularly broad, as administrators were often targeted through social engineering campaigns or by exploiting other vulnerabilities in the WordPress ecosystem to gain initial access before leveraging this CSRF-XSS combination.
Organizations running vulnerable versions of the yith-maintenance-mode plugin faced significant risks including potential data breaches, unauthorized access to administrative interfaces, and complete compromise of WordPress installations. The vulnerability directly violated security principles outlined in CWE-352, which specifically addresses cross-site request forgery issues, while also creating conditions that enabled XSS exploitation patterns consistent with CWE-79. Security practitioners should have implemented immediate mitigations including plugin updates to version 1.2.0 or later, which contained proper CSRF token validation and input sanitization measures. Additional protective measures included implementing Content Security Policy headers, monitoring for suspicious administrative activities, and ensuring that WordPress installations maintained current versions of all plugins and themes to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the broader WordPress ecosystem. The incident highlighted the importance of proper authentication verification and input sanitization in WordPress plugin development, particularly for administrative interfaces that handle sensitive configuration parameters.