CVE-2022-2170 in Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 08/01/2022
The Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking (UET) WordPress plugin before 1.0.4 does not sanitise and escape its settings, allowing high privilege users such as admin to perform Cross-Site Scripting attacks even when the unfiltered_html capability is disallowed. Due to the nature of this plugin, well crafted XSS can also leak into the frontpage.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/29/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-2170 affects the Microsoft Advertising Universal Event Tracking WordPress plugin version 1.0.3 and earlier, representing a critical cross-site scripting weakness that undermines web application security. This flaw resides in the plugin's failure to properly sanitise and escape user input within its administrative settings, creating an avenue for malicious actors to inject malicious scripts into the WordPress environment. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it targets high-privilege users such as administrators who possess elevated capabilities within the WordPress ecosystem, making the potential impact significantly more severe than typical XSS vulnerabilities that might affect regular users.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and output sanitisation within the plugin's codebase, specifically within the settings handling mechanisms. According to CWE-79 Cross-Site Scripting, this weakness allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. The plugin's insufficient sanitisation process fails to properly escape special characters and validate user-supplied data before rendering it within the administrative interface, creating persistent XSS vectors. The vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that even when the WordPress unfiltered_html capability is restricted for users, administrators can still be compromised due to the plugin's lack of proper security controls. This design flaw violates fundamental security principles outlined in the OWASP Top Ten Project, specifically addressing the critical issue of injection vulnerabilities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond typical XSS scenarios, as it can potentially allow attackers to execute malicious code within the context of the administrator's browser session. When well-crafted malicious scripts are injected through the plugin's settings, they can persistently execute on the administrator's browser, potentially enabling session hijacking, credential theft, or unauthorized modifications to the WordPress site. The vulnerability's potential to leak into the frontpage of the website amplifies its impact, as malicious scripts could be executed in the context of regular site visitors, transforming a targeted attack against administrators into a broader security compromise affecting all website users. This frontpage leakage capability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for Phishing and T1059.001 for Command and Scripting Interpreter, as attackers can leverage the vulnerability to establish persistent access and execute malicious commands.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate attention through patching the affected plugin to version 1.0.4 or later, which implements proper sanitisation and escaping mechanisms for user input. Administrators should also implement additional security measures such as restricting administrative access to trusted individuals only, implementing robust input validation at multiple layers, and conducting regular security audits of installed plugins. The principle of least privilege should be enforced by ensuring that only necessary capabilities are granted to users, and the WordPress core should be maintained with up-to-date security patches. Organizations should also consider implementing Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to provide an additional layer of protection against XSS attacks, as recommended by the W3C Web Application Security Working Group. Regular monitoring of plugin repositories and security advisories is essential to identify and remediate similar vulnerabilities before they can be exploited in the wild.