CVE-2024-4273 in Essential Real Estate Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 06/04/2024
The Essential Real Estate plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the plugin's 'ere_property_map' shortcode in all versions up to, and including, 4.4.2 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 • 05/30/2025
The Essential Real Estate plugin for WordPress presents a critical stored cross-site scripting vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-4273 affecting versions through 4.4.2. This vulnerability resides within the plugin's 'ere_property_map' shortcode implementation, where inadequate input sanitization and output escaping mechanisms fail to properly validate user-supplied attributes. The flaw allows authenticated attackers holding contributor-level privileges or higher to inject malicious scripts that persist in the application's database and execute whenever affected pages are accessed by other users. This represents a significant security risk as it leverages the trust relationship between legitimate users and the application to deliver malicious payloads.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability follows established patterns for stored XSS attacks where malicious input is first accepted and stored in the database without proper sanitization. The 'ere_property_map' shortcode serves as the attack vector through which user-supplied attributes are processed, and the lack of proper input validation means that attackers can inject script code that gets executed in the context of other users' browsers. This vulnerability maps directly to CWE-79 which defines cross-site scripting flaws as weaknesses that allow attackers to inject malicious scripts into web applications. The attack requires minimal privileges since contributors can already modify content, making the impact more severe as it can be exploited by users with relatively low access levels.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it creates persistent attack vectors that can be used for various malicious purposes including credential theft, session hijacking, and data exfiltration. When authenticated users access pages containing the injected scripts, their browsers execute the malicious code in their context, potentially allowing attackers to steal cookies, session tokens, or other sensitive information. The vulnerability affects all users who have access to pages containing the compromised shortcode, making it particularly dangerous in multi-user environments where contributors and editors may be trusted with content creation. This type of vulnerability also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 which describes social engineering tactics involving the delivery of malicious code through compromised applications.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-4273 should prioritize immediate patching of the Essential Real Estate plugin to version 4.4.3 or later where the vulnerability has been addressed. Administrators should implement strict input validation and output escaping mechanisms for all user-supplied data, particularly for shortcode attributes and other dynamic content. Role-based access controls should be reviewed to limit the ability of lower-privilege users to inject content that could be exploited, though this represents a defense-in-depth measure rather than a complete solution. Additionally, implementing content security policies can provide an additional layer of protection against script execution, while regular security audits and monitoring for unusual content modifications can help detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing web application firewalls to detect and block malicious payloads attempting to exploit this vulnerability. The fix should include comprehensive sanitization of all shortcode parameters and proper escaping of output to prevent script injection regardless of the input source.