CVE-2022-2799 in Affiliates Manager Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/16/2022
The Affiliates Manager WordPress plugin before 2.9.14 does not sanitise and escape some of its settings, which could allow high privilege users to perform Cross-Site Scripting attacks even when the unfiltered_html capability is disallowed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/19/2022
The Affiliates Manager WordPress plugin vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw that affects versions prior to 2.9.14. This vulnerability resides in the plugin's handling of user settings where insufficient sanitization and escaping mechanisms leave the system susceptible to malicious script injection. The flaw specifically targets high-privilege users who possess the ability to modify plugin configurations, creating a pathway for attackers to execute malicious JavaScript code within the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates even when the WordPress environment has properly restricted the unfiltered_html capability, which typically prevents users from injecting raw HTML and JavaScript into posts and pages. This indicates that the plugin's security measures are bypassed at the plugin level rather than being a WordPress core issue.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's failure to properly sanitize user input within its administrative settings interface. When high-privilege users configure affiliate settings, the plugin fails to adequately escape output that may contain user-supplied data, creating opportunities for attackers to inject malicious scripts. This type of vulnerability maps directly to CWE-79 - Cross-Site Scripting, which is categorized under the broader category of input validation and output encoding issues. The flaw demonstrates poor secure coding practices where the plugin assumes that WordPress core security measures will prevent malicious input, when in fact the plugin itself contains insufficient input validation and output escaping routines. Attackers can exploit this by crafting malicious script payloads within the plugin settings that get executed when other users view the affected administrative interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it can lead to complete compromise of user sessions and potential privilege escalation within the WordPress environment. When high-privilege users are tricked into viewing maliciously crafted settings or when attackers gain access to accounts with sufficient privileges, they can execute scripts that steal cookies, session tokens, or perform unauthorized actions within the WordPress admin interface. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism, as it allows attackers to leverage existing administrative privileges to execute malicious code. The risk is amplified because the vulnerability affects the plugin's administrative settings rather than front-end content, meaning that even users who primarily work with the WordPress frontend could be compromised through administrative actions. The exploitation requires minimal user interaction beyond accessing the affected plugin settings, making it particularly dangerous in environments where administrators frequently modify plugin configurations.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on immediate plugin updates to version 2.9.14 or later, which contain the necessary sanitization and escaping fixes. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring of administrative user activities and plugin configuration changes to detect potential exploitation attempts. Security administrators should consider implementing content security policies that restrict script execution within the WordPress admin interface, although this approach provides only partial protection since the vulnerability exists at the plugin's input handling level. Regular security audits of WordPress plugins should include verification of proper sanitization and escaping mechanisms, particularly for plugins that handle user input in administrative contexts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of maintaining up-to-date plugins and the need for comprehensive security testing that includes both input validation and output encoding checks to prevent similar issues in other components of the WordPress ecosystem.