CVE-2024-9882 in Salon Booking System Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 05/16/2025
The Salon Booking System, Appointment Scheduling for Salons, Spas & Small Businesses WordPress plugin before 1.9.4 does not sanitise and escape some of its settings, which could allow high privilege users such as admin to perform Stored Cross-Site Scripting attacks even when the unfiltered_html capability is disallowed (for example in multisite setup).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/17/2025
The Salon Booking System WordPress plugin presents a critical security vulnerability that affects versions prior to 194. This flaw resides in the plugin's handling of user settings where insufficient sanitization and escaping mechanisms leave the system susceptible to stored cross-site scripting attacks. The vulnerability specifically targets high-privilege users such as administrators who possess the capability to modify plugin configurations. Even in environments where the unfiltered_html capability is properly restricted - such as in multisite WordPress installations - these administrative users can still exploit the vulnerability to inject malicious scripts into the plugin's settings.
The technical nature of this vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications. The root cause stems from the plugin's failure to properly validate and sanitize input data before storing it within the WordPress database. When administrators configure the plugin settings, the malicious payloads are stored persistently and executed whenever the affected pages are rendered to users. This stored XSS vulnerability operates through the standard web application attack vector where crafted script code is injected into the system and subsequently executed in the context of other users' browsers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it allows authenticated attackers with administrative privileges to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in the browsers of other users. This could enable attackers to steal session cookies, perform unauthorized actions on behalf of victims, redirect users to malicious sites, or extract sensitive information from the targeted WordPress installation. In multisite environments where unfiltered_html is typically restricted, this vulnerability undermines the security model by providing a backdoor for privileged users to bypass these protections. The attack requires minimal privileges since administrators already possess the necessary access rights to modify plugin settings.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate patching of the plugin to version 194 or later where the sanitization and escaping mechanisms have been properly implemented. Administrators should also conduct thorough security audits of their WordPress installations to identify any other plugins that may exhibit similar vulnerabilities. The principle of least privilege should be enforced by limiting administrative access to only essential personnel and implementing additional security layers such as web application firewalls. Regular security monitoring and vulnerability scanning should be maintained to detect potential exploitation attempts. Organizations should also consider implementing content security policies to further reduce the impact of potential XSS attacks. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper input validation and output escaping in web applications, particularly in plugins that handle user configuration data and operate with elevated privileges.