CVE-2024-10261 in Paid Membership Subscriptions Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/09/2024
The The Paid Membership Subscriptions – Effortless Memberships, Recurring Payments & Content Restriction plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 2.13.0. This is due to the software allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a value before running do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 11/09/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-10261 affects the Paid Membership Subscriptions plugin for WordPress, specifically targeting versions up to and including 2130. This plugin serves as a comprehensive membership management solution that handles user subscriptions, recurring payments, and content restriction across WordPress websites. The flaw resides in how the plugin processes shortcode execution within its core functionality, creating a critical security gap that can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms that fail to properly sanitize user-supplied parameters before executing WordPress shortcode functionality.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when the plugin accepts user input through specific action parameters that are subsequently passed to the do_shortcode function without proper validation. This direct invocation pattern creates an arbitrary code execution vector where attackers can inject malicious shortcodes through crafted requests. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-74, which addresses injection flaws, and specifically manifests as a code injection vulnerability that allows attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes within the WordPress environment. The flaw operates at the application layer and can be exploited through HTTP requests that manipulate the plugin's action handling mechanism.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple code execution to potentially compromise entire WordPress installations. Unauthenticated attackers can leverage this weakness to execute arbitrary shortcodes that may include malicious payload delivery mechanisms, content manipulation, or further exploitation attempts. The vulnerability affects all versions up to 2130, indicating a widespread exposure across numerous installations that could be actively targeted. This presents significant risk to website owners as the attack vector requires no authentication credentials, making it particularly dangerous for publicly accessible WordPress sites that rely on this plugin for membership management. The exploitation could lead to data breaches, content defacement, or further compromise of the hosting environment through chained attacks.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the validation gap in shortcode execution. System administrators should implement network-level restrictions and monitoring to detect suspicious shortcode execution patterns. The WordPress security community recommends applying the latest plugin updates as soon as they become available, following the principle of least privilege in shortcode handling. Additional defensive measures include implementing web application firewalls that can detect and block malicious shortcode injection attempts, as well as conducting regular security audits of plugin configurations. Organizations should also consider implementing Content Security Policies that restrict shortcode execution contexts and establish proper input validation routines that align with ATT&CK technique T1059.008 for execution through command and scripting interpreters, ensuring that all user-supplied content undergoes rigorous sanitization before being processed by WordPress shortcode handlers.