CVE-2024-4617

Rank Math SEO with AI Best SEO Tools <= 1.0.218 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting

2024-05-15 00:00
Ngô Thiên An (ancorn_)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.0.219-beta
Affected Plugin
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings
Affected Version
<= 1.0.218
CVSS
6.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2024-4617
View all Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2024-4617 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Rank Math SEO WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.218. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 1.0.219-beta; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2024, reported by Ngô Thiên An (ancorn_).

Vulnerability Overview

The Rank Math SEO with AI Best SEO Tools plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the ‘id’ parameter in versions up to, and including, 1.0.218 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with contributor-level permissions and above, to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

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 interaction from a victim user.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in Rank Math SEO <= 1.0.218 takes an account at Contributor level or above. 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 Rank Math SEO the fix is 1.0.219-beta: builds <= 1.0.218 are affected, anything from 1.0.219-beta onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.0.219-beta, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Rank Math SEO 1.0.219-beta closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-4617https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/474fdbcb-fe3c-4a79-a847-363f81b300c2https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-4617

Related records

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