CVE-2022-1599 in Admin Management Xtended Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 07/11/2022
The Admin Management Xtended WordPress plugin before 2.4.5 does not have CSRF checks in some of its AJAX actions, allowing attackers to make a logged users with the right capabilities to call them. This can lead to changes in post status (draft, published), slug, post date, comment status (enabled, disabled) and more.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/21/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-1599 affects the Admin Management Xtended WordPress plugin version 2.4.4 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of WordPress administrative functions. This issue stems from the absence of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection mechanisms within specific AJAX endpoints of the plugin, creating a significant attack vector for malicious actors who can exploit this weakness to manipulate content and administrative settings. The vulnerability specifically targets users with appropriate capabilities who are authenticated within the WordPress admin environment, making it particularly dangerous as it leverages existing privileges rather than requiring additional authentication.
The technical implementation flaw manifests in the plugin's failure to validate the origin of AJAX requests through proper CSRF tokens or referer checks. This oversight allows attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the WordPress admin system, as the requests are made from authenticated sessions. The affected AJAX actions enable manipulation of core post attributes including status changes from draft to published, slug modifications, date alterations, and comment status toggling between enabled and disabled states. These capabilities provide attackers with substantial control over content management functions and can be exploited to publish unauthorized content, modify existing posts, or disable comment functionality on sensitive pages.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple content manipulation, as it represents a direct threat to WordPress site integrity and user trust. Attackers can leverage this weakness to publish spam content, alter important announcements, or manipulate time-sensitive information by changing post dates and statuses. The ability to disable comments can be particularly damaging in contexts where user engagement or feedback mechanisms are critical to site operations. Additionally, the vulnerability allows for potential data corruption and can be used to establish persistent malicious modifications that may be difficult to detect without comprehensive audit logging. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for executing malicious code through web applications.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-1599 require immediate attention from WordPress administrators, beginning with the mandatory upgrade to plugin version 2.4.5 or later, which includes the necessary CSRF protection mechanisms. Organizations should implement comprehensive monitoring of AJAX requests and establish robust logging practices to detect anomalous administrative activities. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls can provide additional layers of defense by identifying and blocking suspicious request patterns. Security teams should also conduct thorough audits of all installed plugins to identify similar vulnerabilities and ensure that CSRF protection is consistently implemented across all administrative interfaces. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be integrated into the organizational security posture to prevent similar issues from arising in other components of the WordPress ecosystem. The remediation process should include verification that all affected AJAX endpoints now properly validate request origins and implement appropriate token-based authentication mechanisms to prevent unauthorized administrative actions.