CVE-2024-9893 in Nextend Social Login Pro Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/16/2024
The Nextend Social Login Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in all versions up to, and including, 3.1.14. This is due to insufficient verification on the user being returned by the social login token. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing user on the site, such as an administrator, if they have access to the email and the user does not have an already-existing account for the service returning the token.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/16/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-9893 affects the Nextend Social Login Pro plugin for WordPress, representing a critical authentication bypass flaw that compromises the security integrity of affected systems. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 3.1.14, making it a widespread concern for WordPress installations that utilize this social login functionality. The flaw stems from inadequate validation mechanisms within the plugin's token processing logic, specifically failing to properly verify the authenticity of users returned by social login providers. This weakness creates a significant security gap that allows malicious actors to exploit the system's trust model and gain unauthorized access to user accounts.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability lies in the plugin's insufficient verification procedures when processing social login tokens from external providers such as Google, Facebook, or other OAuth services. When a user attempts to log in through social authentication, the plugin receives a token containing user information including email addresses and potentially other identifying details. However, the vulnerability occurs because the plugin does not adequately validate that the returned user data matches the expected authentication parameters or that the user actually possesses legitimate credentials for the account they are attempting to access. This validation failure creates an attack surface where an attacker can manipulate the token processing flow to impersonate any existing user account on the WordPress site. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it can be exploited even when the target user does not have a pre-existing account with the specific social login service, as long as the attacker knows the user's email address.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access to individual accounts, potentially enabling attackers to escalate privileges and gain administrative control over affected WordPress installations. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can log in as any existing user, including high-privilege administrators, without requiring legitimate credentials or password guessing attempts. This bypass of authentication mechanisms undermines the fundamental security model of WordPress and the social login plugin, allowing for unauthorized modifications to website content, user management, data exfiltration, and potential lateral movement within the compromised environment. The vulnerability's exploitability is further amplified by the fact that it requires minimal information - essentially just an email address associated with a legitimate user account - making it particularly attractive to threat actors who may have obtained such information through various reconnaissance activities or data breaches.
Security mitigations for CVE-2024-9893 should prioritize immediate plugin updates to versions that address the authentication bypass vulnerability, as this represents the most direct and effective solution. Organizations should also implement additional defensive measures including monitoring for unauthorized login attempts, enforcing multi-factor authentication for all administrative accounts, and conducting thorough security audits of all installed plugins and themes to identify similar vulnerabilities. From a compliance perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-287, which addresses improper authentication issues, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078.004 related to valid accounts and credential access. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation and authentication verification in third-party integrations, particularly those involving social login services where the trust model between systems can be exploited if not properly implemented. Organizations should also consider implementing network-level controls such as rate limiting and IP address monitoring to detect and prevent abuse of this authentication bypass vulnerability during active exploitation attempts.