CVE-2022-1710 in Appointment Hour Booking Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/13/2022
The Appointment Hour Booking WordPress plugin before 1.3.56 does not sanitise and escape a settings of its Calendar fields, which could allow high privilege users to perform Cross-Site Scripting attacks even when the unfiltered_html is disallowed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/13/2022
The CVE-2022-1710 vulnerability affects the Appointment Hour Booking WordPress plugin, specifically versions prior to 1.3.56, presenting a critical cross-site scripting risk that exploits improper input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms. This vulnerability resides within the plugin's calendar field settings handling, where user-provided data fails to undergo proper sanitization before being rendered in the web interface. The flaw particularly impacts high-privilege users who can leverage this vulnerability to inject malicious scripts into the plugin's calendar configuration areas, potentially compromising the entire WordPress installation through persistent XSS attacks.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to implement adequate input validation and output escaping for calendar field settings. When administrators or users with sufficient privileges modify calendar configurations, the plugin processes these inputs without proper sanitization, allowing malicious payloads to persist in the database. Even when the WordPress environment restricts unfiltered_html capabilities, this vulnerability enables attackers to bypass such restrictions through the plugin's calendar field handling mechanisms. The vulnerability operates under CWE-79 which classifies it as a cross-site scripting weakness, specifically targeting the improper neutralization of input during web page generation. This weakness allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute in the context of other users' browsers, potentially leading to session hijacking, privilege escalation, or data exfiltration.
The operational impact of CVE-2022-1710 extends beyond simple script injection, as it enables sophisticated attack vectors that can compromise entire WordPress installations. High-privilege users who can access calendar settings become potential attack vectors for more advanced exploitation techniques, including session manipulation and privilege escalation within the WordPress admin environment. Attackers can craft malicious calendar entries that, when viewed by other administrators or users, execute malicious JavaScript code in their browsers. This vulnerability particularly threatens organizations that rely heavily on WordPress for business operations, as it can lead to complete administrative compromise of the booking system and potentially the entire website infrastructure. The persistence of these attacks through calendar field storage makes them particularly dangerous as they can affect multiple users over extended periods without requiring repeated exploitation attempts.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2022-1710 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to version 1.3.56 or later, which contain proper sanitization and escaping mechanisms for calendar field inputs. Organizations should implement additional security measures including regular security audits of WordPress plugins, monitoring for unauthorized modifications to calendar settings, and maintaining up-to-date security configurations that restrict unnecessary administrative privileges. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under T1548.003 for abuse of credentials and T1059.007 for command and scripting interpreter, highlighting the potential for privilege escalation and persistent access through the XSS vector. Security teams should also consider implementing content security policies that restrict script execution within the plugin's calendar interface, and establish monitoring procedures to detect anomalous calendar field modifications that might indicate exploitation attempts. Additionally, organizations should conduct comprehensive security training for administrators to recognize potential XSS attack indicators and maintain regular backups to facilitate recovery from potential compromise scenarios.