Ajax Search Pro <= 4.18.7 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 4.19
- Affected Plugin
- Ajax Search Pro
- Affected Version
<= 4.18.7- CVSS
- 6.1Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Ajax Search Pro WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.18.7. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.19; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2020, reported by Chris Grello.
Vulnerability Overview
The Ajax Search Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 4.18.7. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation in one of its functions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to invoke the vulnerable function via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link. Sanitization and escaping of user input is insufficient resulting in Stored Cross-Site Scripting.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in Ajax Search Pro <= 4.18.7 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Ajax Search Pro the fix is 4.19: builds <= 4.18.7 are affected, anything from 4.19 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 4.19, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Ajax Search Pro: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Ajax Search Pro 4.19 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Ajax Search Pro
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