CVE-2024-1959 in Social Sharing Plugin Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/02/2024
The Social Sharing Plugin – Social Warfare plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's 'socialWarfare' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 4.4.6.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with contributor-level and above permissions 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 • 04/04/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-1959 affects the Social Sharing Plugin - Social Warfare WordPress plugin, specifically targeting versions up to and including 4.4.6.1. This represents a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of WordPress websites relying on this plugin for social sharing functionality. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms within the plugin's core codebase, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system through a stored cross-site scripting attack vector.
The technical flaw manifests through the plugin's 'socialWarfare' shortcode implementation, which fails to properly validate or sanitize user-supplied attributes before processing them. This weakness allows authenticated attackers who possess contributor-level permissions or higher to inject malicious scripts directly into the plugin's shortcode parameters. When these parameters are later rendered on web pages, the injected scripts execute in the context of other users' browsers, creating a persistent threat that can affect anyone accessing pages containing the malicious content. The vulnerability operates as a stored XSS attack because the malicious code is permanently stored within the plugin's data structures and executed each time affected pages are accessed.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it enables attackers to potentially steal user sessions, deface websites, redirect visitors to malicious sites, or harvest sensitive information from authenticated users. Since the attack requires only contributor-level permissions, it represents a significant risk to WordPress installations where multiple users have editing privileges, as these accounts may be compromised through social engineering or other attack vectors. The vulnerability affects not just individual users but entire WordPress sites, as the malicious scripts can execute in the context of any user who accesses pages containing the injected content.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-79, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Scripting flaws in software applications, and demonstrates characteristics consistent with ATT&CK technique T1566, focusing on the initial access phase through malicious content delivery. The attack vector leverages the trust relationship between the WordPress platform and its plugins, exploiting the expectation that content from authenticated users will be safe. Organizations should immediately implement the recommended mitigation strategies, including updating to the latest plugin version, reviewing user permissions to limit contributor access, and implementing additional security measures such as content security policies to prevent unauthorized script execution. Regular security audits of WordPress plugins and themes remain essential to identify similar vulnerabilities that could compromise website security and user data integrity.