CVE-2023-40554 in Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/06/2023
Unauth. Reflected Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Blog2Social, Adenion Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler plugin <= 7.2.0 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/02/2023
The vulnerability CVE-2023-40554 represents an unauthorized reflected cross-site scripting flaw discovered in the Blog2Social plugin for WordPress, specifically affecting versions 7.2.0 and earlier. This issue resides within the Adenion Blog2Social: Social Media Auto Post & Scheduler plugin which is widely used for automating social media posting and scheduling activities. The vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous as it can be exploited by anyone who can manipulate input parameters.
The technical flaw manifests through improper input validation and output encoding mechanisms within the plugin's handling of user-supplied data. When the plugin processes certain HTTP parameters or form inputs, it fails to adequately sanitize or escape the data before incorporating it into the HTML response sent to users. This reflected behavior means that malicious scripts are injected into the response payload and executed within the victim's browser context when they view the affected page. The vulnerability specifically impacts the plugin's administrative interfaces and user-facing features that process external input parameters, creating a pathway for attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the context of a victim's browser session.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it can enable sophisticated attack vectors including session hijacking, credential theft, and redirection to malicious sites. An attacker could craft malicious URLs containing XSS payloads that, when clicked by an administrator or logged-in user, would execute scripts that steal cookies, modify page content, or redirect users to phishing sites. The reflected nature of the vulnerability means that the attack requires user interaction through a crafted link, but once triggered, the malicious code executes with the privileges of the victim's browser session, potentially compromising the entire WordPress administration interface or user accounts.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-40554 should prioritize immediate plugin version updates to 7.2.1 or later, which contain the necessary patches addressing the reflected XSS vulnerability. System administrators should implement comprehensive input validation measures and output encoding practices throughout the WordPress environment to prevent similar issues across other plugins and themes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which categorizes cross-site scripting flaws as critical security weaknesses, and it maps to ATT&CK technique T1566.001 for initial access through malicious links. Organizations should conduct thorough security assessments of all installed plugins and maintain updated security monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts. Additionally, implementing content security policies and regular security audits can provide defense-in-depth measures against similar reflected XSS vulnerabilities in the broader WordPress ecosystem.