CVE-2021-24605

Custom Post View Generator <= 0.4.6 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2021-08-10 00:00
Neppah

Strategic Overview

Status
Unpatched
Affected Version
<= 0.4.6
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2021-24605
View all Custom Post View Generator vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-24605 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Custom Post View Generator WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.4.6. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed August 2021, reported by Neppah.

Vulnerability Overview

The create_post_page AJAX action of the Custom Post View Generator WordPress plugin through 0.4.6 (available to authenticated user) does not sanitise or escape user input before outputting it back in the response, leading to a Reflected Cross-Site issue.

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 Custom Post View Generator <= 0.4.6 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for Custom Post View Generator yet, so installs running <= 0.4.6 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.

Remediation

No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Custom Post View Generator: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C