Admin Columns Free < 4.3.2 and Pro < 5.5.2 Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.5.2
- Affected Plugin
- Admin Columns Pro
- Affected Version
< 5.5.2- CVSS
- 5.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2021-24365
At a glance
CVE-2021-24365 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Admin Columns Pro WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 5.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 5.5.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2021, reported by Johannes Lauinger.
Vulnerability Overview
The Admin Columns WordPress plugin Free before 4.3.2 and Pro before 5.5.2 allowed to configure individual columns for tables. Each column had a type. The type "Custom Field" allowed to choose an arbitrary database column to display in the table. There was no escaping applied to the contents of "Custom Field" columns.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in Admin Columns Pro < 5.5.2 takes any authenticated account. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Admin Columns Pro the fix is 5.5.2: builds < 5.5.2 are affected, anything from 5.5.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.5.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Admin Columns Pro: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Admin Columns Pro 5.5.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Admin Columns Pro
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C