CVE-2024-11893 in Spoki Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/20/2024
The Spoki – Chat Buttons and WooCommerce Notifications plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's 'spoki_button' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 2.15.14 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level access and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2025
The Spoki – Chat Buttons and WooCommerce Notifications plugin for WordPress presents a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that affects all versions up to and including 21514. This vulnerability resides within the plugin's spoki_button shortcode implementation and represents a significant security flaw that undermines the integrity of WordPress installations. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization and insufficient output escaping mechanisms that fail to properly validate or sanitize user-supplied attributes before processing them within the shortcode functionality.
The technical flaw manifests when authenticated attackers with contributor-level privileges or higher exploit the insufficient validation controls to inject malicious scripts into the plugin's shortcode parameters. These scripts become permanently stored within the WordPress database and execute whenever any user accesses pages containing the compromised shortcode. The vulnerability operates at the intersection of poor input validation and output escaping deficiencies, creating a persistent XSS attack vector that can affect any user with sufficient privileges to modify content. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-79 - Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation, specifically targeting the storage phase of web application security.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it enables attackers to perform various malicious activities including session hijacking, data theft, and privilege escalation. Contributors and higher-level users who can modify posts and pages become potential attack vectors, allowing threat actors to compromise not only their own sessions but potentially those of other users with different permission levels. The stored nature of the vulnerability means that once injected, malicious scripts persist indefinitely until manually removed, creating a long-term security risk for affected WordPress installations. This vulnerability directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1546.001 - Event Triggered Execution: Change Default File Association, as it leverages legitimate plugin functionality to establish persistent malicious code execution.
Mitigation strategies must address both immediate remediation and long-term security hardening measures. The most critical action involves updating to the latest available version of the plugin where the XSS vulnerability has been patched and properly sanitized. Administrators should implement additional security measures including role-based access controls to limit contributor privileges, regular security audits of plugin functionalities, and comprehensive input validation for all user-supplied data. Network monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual script injection patterns, and regular security scanning of WordPress installations should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input sanitization and output escaping practices that align with OWASP Top Ten security principles, particularly focusing on preventing injection attacks through proper data validation and encoding mechanisms.