CVE-2022-0837 in Amelia Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 04/04/2022
The Amelia WordPress plugin before 1.0.48 does not have proper authorisation when handling Amelia SMS service, allowing any customer to send paid test SMS notification as well as retrieve sensitive information about the admin, such as the email, account balance and payment history. A malicious actor can abuse this vulnerability to drain out the account balance by keep sending SMS notification.
Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/06/2022
The CVE-2022-0837 vulnerability affects the Amelia WordPress plugin version 1.0.47 and earlier, representing a critical authorization flaw that undermines the security of SMS service functionality. This vulnerability stems from inadequate access controls within the plugin's implementation of the Amelia SMS service, creating a pathway for unauthorized users to exploit administrative privileges. The flaw specifically manifests in the plugin's failure to properly validate user permissions when processing SMS-related operations, allowing any authenticated customer to bypass normal authorization checks and gain access to administrative functions.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves the manipulation of the plugin's SMS service endpoints without proper authentication verification. Attackers can leverage this weakness to send paid test SMS notifications from the victim's account, effectively draining the account balance through repeated unauthorized transmissions. The vulnerability also exposes sensitive administrative information including administrator email addresses, account balance details, and payment history records, which constitute personally identifiable information and financial data. This data exposure creates additional attack surface for malicious actors seeking to conduct further exploitation or monetize the compromised information.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-0837 extends beyond simple financial loss, as it enables persistent unauthorized access to the SMS service infrastructure. A malicious actor can continuously send SMS notifications at the expense of the legitimate account holder, potentially exhausting the account balance and disrupting legitimate business communications. The exposure of administrative email addresses and payment information creates opportunities for credential theft, social engineering attacks, and further compromise of the WordPress installation. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege in software security design.
From a threat modeling perspective, this vulnerability maps to several ATT&CK techniques including T1566 for credential harvesting and T1071 for application layer protocol usage. The attack chain typically begins with exploitation of the authorization bypass, followed by account balance depletion through repeated SMS sending operations. The vulnerability demonstrates poor input validation and access control implementation, making it particularly dangerous as it requires minimal privileges to exploit. Organizations using the affected Amelia plugin version face significant risk of financial loss, service disruption, and potential data breaches. The remediation process requires immediate plugin updates to version 1.0.48 or later, along with comprehensive monitoring of account activities for any unauthorized transactions.
The broader implications of this vulnerability highlight the importance of proper authorization implementation in web applications and the critical need for regular security audits of third-party plugins. WordPress plugin developers must implement robust access control mechanisms and validate all user permissions before executing privileged operations. Security practitioners should prioritize monitoring for similar authorization flaws in other plugins and ensure that security patches are applied promptly to prevent exploitation. The vulnerability serves as a reminder that even seemingly simple functionality like SMS notifications can become attack vectors when proper security controls are absent, emphasizing the need for defense-in-depth strategies in WordPress environments.