CVE-2024-9883 in Pods Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/05/2024
The Pods WordPress plugin before 3.2.7.1 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 • 03/01/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-9883 affects the Pods WordPress plugin version 3.2.7.1 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of web applications built on WordPress. This issue specifically targets the plugin's handling of user settings and configuration data, where insufficient sanitization and escaping mechanisms create opportunities for malicious actors to inject persistent script code. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it affects high-privilege users including administrators who typically possess elevated permissions within WordPress environments, making the potential impact significantly more severe than typical XSS vulnerabilities.
The technical flaw manifests in the plugin's failure to properly sanitize and escape user input within its settings management interface. When administrators configure plugin settings through the WordPress admin dashboard, the input data is not adequately processed to prevent script injection attempts. This weakness allows attackers to store malicious JavaScript code within the plugin's configuration parameters, which then executes whenever the settings are rendered or processed. The vulnerability persists because the stored scripts are not properly escaped during output rendering, creating a persistent XSS vector that can affect other users who access the affected administrative interfaces.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution, as it leverages the elevated privileges of administrative users to establish persistent footholds within WordPress installations. In multisite environments where the unfiltered_html capability is restricted, attackers can still exploit this vulnerability to bypass security restrictions that are typically in place to protect against XSS attacks. This makes the vulnerability particularly dangerous in shared hosting environments or managed WordPress installations where administrators might be restricted from executing arbitrary HTML content. The stored nature of the XSS payload means that the malicious code executes automatically whenever affected pages are accessed, potentially leading to complete compromise of administrative sessions, data exfiltration, or further exploitation of the WordPress environment.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-79 which defines Cross-Site Scripting as a weakness where untrusted data is incorporated into web pages without proper validation or escaping. This particular instance also demonstrates characteristics of CWE-20 which covers Improper Input Validation, as the plugin fails to validate and sanitize user inputs before storing them in the database. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1566.001 (Phishing with Malicious Attachments) and T1059.001 (Command and Scripting Interpreter: PowerShell) as attackers can leverage the stored XSS to establish persistent access and execute malicious commands. Organizations should immediately update to Pods plugin version 3.2.7.1 or later, which includes proper sanitization and escaping mechanisms for all user-configured settings. Additional mitigations include implementing strict input validation at multiple layers, conducting regular security audits of plugin configurations, and monitoring for unauthorized changes to plugin settings that could indicate exploitation attempts.