Speed Booster Pack PageSpeed Optimization Suite <= 4.1.9. - Authenticated (Admin+) Remote Code Execution
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 4.2.0
- Affected Plugin
- Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite
- Affected Version
< 4.2.0- CVSS
- 7.2High
- Weakness type
- CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2021-24430
At a glance
CVE-2021-24430 is a high-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 4.2.0. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Admin level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.2.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2021, reported by R3N0.
Vulnerability Overview
The Speed Booster Pack PageSpeed Optimization Suite WordPress plugin before 4.2.0 did not validate its caching_exclude_urls and caching_include_query_strings settings before outputting them in a PHP file, which could lead to RCE
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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.
CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
Reaching this weakness in Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite < 4.2.0 takes an account at Admin level or above. Code injection means input from a request reaches a language construct that evaluates code, so the attacker's text is executed rather than treated as data.
The injected code runs with the web server's privileges, giving the attacker the same access to the database and filesystem as WordPress itself. For Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite the fix is 4.2.0: builds < 4.2.0 are affected, anything from 4.2.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 4.2.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Admin 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. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite 4.2.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Speed Booster Pack ⚡ PageSpeed Optimization Suite
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