CVE-2016-10892 in chained-quiz Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The chained-quiz plugin before 1.0 for WordPress has multiple XSS issues.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/27/2023
The chained-quiz plugin for WordPress versions prior to 1.0 contains multiple cross-site scripting vulnerabilities that pose significant security risks to WordPress installations. These vulnerabilities arise from inadequate input validation and output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's codebase, allowing malicious actors to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The issue affects the core functionality of the plugin which is designed to create interactive quizzes with chained question flows, but the implementation fails to properly sanitize user-supplied data before rendering it in web contexts.
The technical flaw manifests through insufficient sanitization of parameters passed to the plugin's quiz creation and display functions. Attackers can exploit these weaknesses by crafting malicious input in quiz questions, answer options, or other configurable fields that are then reflected back to users without proper HTML escaping. This vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-Site Scripting, specifically targeting the scenario where untrusted data is directly embedded into web pages without adequate validation or encoding. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects the WordPress plugin ecosystem where administrators often trust plugins to handle user input securely, creating a false sense of security that attackers can exploit.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as successful exploitation can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, and potential full compromise of WordPress administrator accounts. When administrators or users visit pages containing maliciously crafted quiz content, their browsers execute the injected scripts, potentially allowing attackers to steal cookies, modify content, or redirect users to malicious sites. The chained-quiz plugin's architecture, which allows for dynamic question and answer generation, creates multiple entry points for attackers to inject malicious payloads that can persist across user sessions and potentially affect multiple users within the same WordPress installation. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for Initial Access through Spearphishing Attachment, as attackers could exploit this vulnerability to deliver malicious payloads through compromised quiz content.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate plugin updates to version 1.0 or later where the XSS issues have been addressed through proper input sanitization and output escaping. WordPress administrators should implement comprehensive security measures including regular plugin updates, monitoring for unauthorized modifications, and implementing content security policies to limit the impact of potential exploitation. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper security testing for WordPress plugins, particularly those handling user-generated content, and demonstrates the critical need for input validation at multiple layers of application processing. Additionally, administrators should consider implementing web application firewalls and regular security audits to detect and prevent exploitation attempts targeting similar vulnerabilities in other plugins within their WordPress installations.