CVE-2023-4505 in Staff Employee Business Directory for Active Directory Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 09/27/2023
The Staff / Employee Business Directory for Active Directory plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to LDAP Passback in versions up to, and including, 1.2.3. This is due to insufficient validation when changing the LDAP server. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrative access and above, to change the LDAP server and retrieve the credentials for the original LDAP server.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/10/2026
The CVE-2023-4505 vulnerability affects the Staff Employee Business Directory for Active Directory plugin version 1.2.3 and earlier, presenting a critical security flaw that exploits LDAP passback mechanisms. This vulnerability specifically targets WordPress environments where the plugin is installed and configured to integrate with Active Directory services. The flaw arises from inadequate input validation during LDAP server configuration changes, creating a pathway for privilege escalation and credential theft. Attackers leveraging this vulnerability can manipulate the LDAP server settings to redirect authentication requests to malicious servers while simultaneously extracting credentials from the original LDAP configuration.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from the plugin's insufficient sanitization and validation of LDAP server parameters when administrators modify the directory service connection settings. This weakness allows authenticated users with administrative privileges to manipulate the LDAP server configuration without proper authorization checks. The vulnerability enables attackers to set up a malicious LDAP server that can capture authentication credentials from legitimate users attempting to access the directory service. This type of attack falls under the category of credential harvesting and man-in-the-middle scenarios, where the attacker can intercept and store login information from the original LDAP server.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations relying on Active Directory integration for user management and authentication. The attack requires only administrative access level, which means that attackers who have already compromised administrative credentials can exploit this flaw to escalate their privileges further. The vulnerability essentially allows attackers to establish a persistent backdoor by capturing credentials from legitimate LDAP connections, potentially enabling them to maintain long-term access to the directory service. This creates a cascading security risk that can compromise multiple systems dependent on the compromised Active Directory infrastructure.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which describes "Improper Input Validation" as the underlying cause, and represents a clear violation of secure configuration management principles. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1566, "Phishing", and T1078, "Valid Accounts", as attackers can leverage legitimate administrative access to harvest credentials. Additionally, it relates to T1552, "Unsecured Credentials", as the flaw allows attackers to extract and potentially misuse authentication credentials without detection. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including updating to the patched version of the plugin, reviewing and restricting administrative privileges, and monitoring for unauthorized LDAP server configuration changes.
Mitigation strategies should include immediate patching of the vulnerable plugin to version 1.2.4 or later, which addresses the insufficient validation issue. Organizations must also enforce strict access controls for administrative accounts and implement monitoring solutions that can detect unauthorized changes to LDAP server configurations. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be configured to limit communication between the WordPress server and LDAP servers to only trusted endpoints. Regular security audits should verify that LDAP server configurations have not been modified without proper authorization, and that all administrative access attempts are logged and reviewed for suspicious activity. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of validating configuration changes and implementing proper input sanitization in web applications that interact with enterprise directory services.