CVE-2022-1653 in Social Share Buttons Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/27/2022
The Social Share Buttons by Supsystic WordPress plugin before 2.2.4 does not perform CSRF checks in it's ajax endpoints and admin pages, allowing an attacker to trick any logged in user to manipulate or change the plugin settings, as well as create, delete and rename projects and networks.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/15/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-1653 affects the Social Share Buttons by Supsystic WordPress plugin, specifically versions prior to 2.2.4, presenting a critical cross-site request forgery weakness that undermines the security posture of affected WordPress installations. This flaw resides in the plugin's failure to implement proper CSRF validation mechanisms within its ajax endpoints and administrative interfaces, creating a significant attack surface that adversaries can exploit to manipulate plugin configurations without user consent.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the absence of anti-CSRF tokens or validation mechanisms in the plugin's administrative functions. When users access the plugin's settings pages or interact with its ajax endpoints, no cryptographic token verification occurs to confirm that requests originate from legitimate administrative sessions. This design oversight allows attackers to craft malicious requests that, when executed in the context of an authenticated user's browser, can perform unauthorized operations such as modifying plugin settings, creating new projects or networks, deleting existing configurations, or renaming established network elements. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and specifically targets the plugin's administrative functionality within WordPress.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple configuration changes, as it provides attackers with persistent access to manipulate social sharing configurations that could be used for malicious purposes including data exfiltration, reputation damage, or as a stepping stone for further attacks. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to redirect social sharing buttons to malicious URLs, disable sharing functionality to prevent legitimate user engagement, or manipulate network configurations to compromise the integrity of social sharing data. The vulnerability affects any logged-in user with administrative privileges, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple administrators have access to the WordPress installation.
This vulnerability maps directly to CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.003, which covers abuse of group privileges, as it allows attackers to perform administrative actions without proper authorization. The attack vector requires minimal user interaction beyond accessing a malicious page, making it particularly effective in phishing campaigns or when users visit compromised websites. Organizations should immediately update to version 2.2.4 or later of the Social Share Buttons plugin to remediate this vulnerability, while implementing additional monitoring for unauthorized administrative changes and ensuring proper CSRF protection mechanisms are in place across all WordPress plugin components. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of implementing proper input validation and authentication checks in administrative interfaces, particularly in content management systems where plugins extend core functionality with elevated privileges.