WP Latest Posts <= 5.0.7 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Shortcode Execution
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 5.0.8
- Affected Plugin
- WP Latest Posts
- Affected Version
<= 5.0.7- CVSS
- 5.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
- CVE
CVE-2024-4135
At a glance
CVE-2024-4135 is a medium-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the WP Latest Posts WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.0.7. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 5.0.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2024, reported by stealthcopter.
Vulnerability Overview
The WP Latest Posts plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary shortcode execution in all versions up to, and including, 5.0.7. This is due to the plugin allowing users to execute an action that does not properly validate a user-supplied value prior to using that value in a call to do_shortcode. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary shortcodes.
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-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
Reaching this weakness in WP Latest Posts <= 5.0.7 takes an account at Subscriber 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 WP Latest Posts the fix is 5.0.8: builds <= 5.0.7 are affected, anything from 5.0.8 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 5.0.8, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Subscriber 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: WP Latest Posts 5.0.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in WP Latest Posts
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