CVE-2022-1407 in VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/16/2022
The VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS WordPress plugin before 1.5.8 does not have CSRF check in place when adding a tracking campaign, and does not escape the campaign fields when outputting them In attributes. As a result, attackers could make a logged in admin add tracking campaign with XSS payloads in them via a CSRF attack
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/18/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-1407 affects the VikBooking Hotel Booking Engine & PMS WordPress plugin version 1.5.7 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that combines cross-site request forgery with cross-site scripting vulnerabilities. This issue stems from the plugin's failure to implement proper CSRF protection mechanisms when processing tracking campaign additions, while simultaneously lacking adequate output escaping for campaign fields. The vulnerability resides within the administrative interface of the plugin where authorized users can create and manage tracking campaigns for marketing purposes. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious requests that target logged-in administrators, leveraging the absence of CSRF tokens to execute unauthorized actions on behalf of legitimate users.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows a classic CSRF attack pattern where an attacker constructs a malicious payload that, when executed by an authenticated administrator, adds a tracking campaign containing XSS payloads. The lack of input sanitization and output escaping creates a perfect storm for cross-site scripting attacks, as campaign fields are directly rendered in HTML attributes without proper HTML entity encoding. This dual vulnerability means that even if an attacker cannot directly execute code on the server, they can inject malicious scripts that will execute in the context of the administrator's browser when the tracking campaign data is displayed or manipulated. The vulnerability specifically affects the plugin's administrative functionality where tracking campaigns are managed, making it particularly dangerous for users who maintain their hotel booking systems with elevated privileges.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-1407 extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it provides attackers with a potential foothold for more sophisticated attacks within the WordPress environment. When an administrator interacts with the maliciously crafted tracking campaign, the injected XSS payloads can execute in the administrator's browser context, potentially leading to session hijacking, privilege escalation, or data exfiltration. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it targets the administrative interface of a plugin that likely handles sensitive customer data, booking information, and payment details. This makes the attack surface particularly valuable to threat actors who could use the compromised administrative session to modify booking records, access customer information, or even install additional malicious plugins. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which defines Cross-Site Request Forgery, and CWE-79, which covers Cross-Site Scripting, creating a combined attack vector that amplifies the security risk.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-1407 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to version 1.5.8 or later, where the CSRF protection mechanisms and output escaping have been implemented. Organizations should also implement additional security measures such as regular security audits of WordPress plugins, monitoring for unauthorized administrative actions, and enforcing strict input validation on all user-supplied data. The implementation of Content Security Policy headers can provide additional protection against XSS attacks by restricting the sources from which scripts can be loaded. Network-level protections such as Web Application Firewalls should be configured to detect and block suspicious requests targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoints. Security teams should also consider implementing role-based access controls to limit administrative privileges and reduce the potential impact of successful exploitation. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security practices and proper input/output validation, as outlined in the ATT&CK framework's techniques for privilege escalation and credential access. Organizations should also establish robust patch management processes to ensure timely deployment of security updates and conduct regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar weaknesses in their WordPress environments.