CVE-2024-56017 in Stop Registration Spam Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/17/2024
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Tom Royal Stop Registration Spam allows Stored XSS.This issue affects Stop Registration Spam: from n/a through 1.23.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/17/2025
The CVE-2024-56017 vulnerability represents a critical security flaw in the Stop Registration Spam WordPress plugin that combines cross-site request forgery with stored cross-site scripting capabilities. This vulnerability exists within the plugin's handling of user registration data and forms, creating a dangerous attack vector that can persist across user sessions. The issue affects versions from the initial release through version 1.23, indicating a long-standing problem that has not been properly addressed in the plugin's security architecture. The vulnerability stems from inadequate validation and sanitization of input data submitted through registration forms, which allows malicious actors to inject persistent malicious scripts that execute whenever affected pages are loaded.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the plugin's failure to properly implement anti-CSRF tokens in its registration form processing mechanisms. When users submit registration data through the plugin's interface, the system does not adequately verify the authenticity of requests or validate the source of submitted parameters. This weakness enables attackers to craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the server, bypassing standard security controls designed to prevent unauthorized modifications. The stored XSS component occurs because the plugin fails to properly sanitize and escape user input before storing it in the database, allowing malicious scripts to be persisted and executed against other users who view affected content. This creates a persistent threat that can affect multiple users over extended periods without requiring repeated exploitation attempts.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-56017 extends beyond simple data theft or defacement, as it enables attackers to establish persistent footholds within WordPress environments. Once exploited, the stored XSS can be used to steal user sessions, redirect visitors to malicious sites, or harvest sensitive information from authenticated users. The vulnerability particularly affects WordPress sites that rely on the Stop Registration Spam plugin for managing user registration workflows, potentially compromising entire user bases and undermining the trust placed in the site's security measures. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform session hijacking, execute arbitrary code in users' browsers, or manipulate the plugin's functionality to create further attack vectors. The persistence of the stored XSS means that even after the initial exploitation, the malicious code continues to execute against all users who interact with the affected plugin features.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-56017 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the CSRF and XSS vulnerabilities, though users must verify that the updated versions properly resolve both components of the flaw. Organizations should implement additional defensive measures including input validation at multiple layers, proper implementation of CSRF tokens in all user-facing forms, and comprehensive output escaping for all dynamic content. Security monitoring should include detection of suspicious registration patterns and unusual form submissions that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352 for cross-site request forgery and CWE-79 for cross-site scripting, representing a classic example of how insecure input handling can create cascading security issues. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to techniques involving credential access through session hijacking and initial access through web application exploitation, potentially enabling more sophisticated attack chains. Network-level protections such as web application firewalls should be configured to detect and block known attack patterns associated with CSRF and XSS exploitation attempts, while regular security audits should verify that all user input is properly validated and sanitized before being processed or stored.