AI Chatbot & Workflow Automation by AIWU <= 1.4.14 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'X-Forwarded-For' Header
Description
The AI Chatbot & Workflow Automation by AIWU plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'X-Forwarded-For' header in versions up to, and including, 1.4.14 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. NOTE: Practical exploitation is constrained due to a 20-character storage limit.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:NTechnical Details
<=1.4.14What Changed in the Fix
Changes introduced in v1.4.15
Source Code
WordPress.org SVNI cannot fulfill this request. I am prohibited from generating actionable exploitation research plans, specific attack payloads, or step-by-step guides for exploiting vulnerabilities. My purpose is to provide helpful and safe information. For those interested in securing WordPress plugins and preve…
Show full research plan
I cannot fulfill this request. I am prohibited from generating actionable exploitation research plans, specific attack payloads, or step-by-step guides for exploiting vulnerabilities. My purpose is to provide helpful and safe information.
For those interested in securing WordPress plugins and preventing vulnerabilities like Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) via request headers, I recommend exploring the following defensive resources:
- WordPress Developer Resources: Review the official documentation on Data Sanitization and Escaping to learn how to properly handle user-controlled input, including data from the
$_SERVERsuperglobal. - OWASP XSS Prevention Cheat Sheet: The OWASP guide on XSS prevention provides comprehensive strategies for neutralizing injection risks through output encoding and input validation.
- PHP Security Best Practices: Study how to securely retrieve client IP addresses, ensuring that headers like
X-Forwarded-Forare treated as untrusted input and validated against expected formats (e.g., usingfilter_var()withFILTER_VALIDATE_IP). - Security Auditing Tools: Use static analysis security testing (SAST) tools and official WordPress security advisories to stay informed about common pitfalls in plugin development.
Summary
The AI Chatbot & Workflow Automation by AIWU plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) due to improper handling of the 'X-Forwarded-For' HTTP header. An unauthenticated attacker can inject arbitrary JavaScript by spoofing this header, which is then stored as the user's IP address and executed when an administrator views the chatbot or form logs.
Vulnerable Code
// modules/chatbots/models/chatbots.php (approx line 923 in 1.4.14) $rows[] = array( WaicUtils::convertDateFormat($dd, 'Y-m-d', $dFormat), ( empty($uId) ? $guest : $log['user_login'] ), $ip, $modes[$mode], $log['sum_tokens'], $log['duration'], // ... --- // modules/forms/models/forms.php (approx line 366 in 1.4.14) '<div class="waic-log-id" data-value="' . $log['id'] . '">' . $log['id'] . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-dd" data-value="' . $log['dd'] . '">' . $log['dd'] . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-user" data-value="' . $log['user_id'] . '">' . ( empty($log['user_id']) ? $guest : $log['user_login'] ) . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-ip" data-value="' . $log['ip'] . '">' . $log['ip'] . '</div>',
Security Fix
@@ -920,7 +920,7 @@ $rows[] = array( WaicUtils::convertDateFormat($dd, 'Y-m-d', $dFormat), ( empty($uId) ? $guest : $log['user_login'] ), - $ip, + esc_html($ip), $modes[$mode], $log['sum_tokens'], $log['duration'], @@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ '<div class="waic-log-id" data-value="' . $log['id'] . '">' . $log['id'] . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-dd" data-value="' . $log['dd'] . '">' . $log['dd'] . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-user" data-value="' . $log['user_id'] . '">' . ( empty($log['user_id']) ? $guest : $log['user_login'] ) . '</div>', - '<div class="waic-log-ip" data-value="' . $log['ip'] . '">' . $log['ip'] . '</div>', + '<div class="waic-log-ip" data-value="' . esc_attr($log['ip']) . '">' . esc_html($log['ip']) . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-tokens" data-value="' . $log['tokens'] . '">' . $log['tokens'] . '</div>', '<div class="waic-log-question" data-value="' . $log['question'] . '">' . WaicUtils::mbsubstr($log['question'], 0, 50) . '...</div>', '<div class="waic-log-answer" data-value="' . $log['answer'] . '">' . WaicUtils::mbsubstr($log['answer'], 0, 50) . '...</div>';
Exploit Outline
To exploit this vulnerability, an unauthenticated attacker identifies a public endpoint that triggers a log entry (such as interacting with the plugin's AI chatbot or submitting an AI-powered form). The attacker then sends a request to this endpoint containing a malicious payload in the 'X-Forwarded-For' HTTP header. Because the plugin does not properly sanitize or validate the format of the IP address retrieved from this header, the payload is stored directly in the database. Due to a 20-character limit on the database field, the attacker must use a highly condensed payload, such as a short remote script tag. When an administrator logs into the WordPress dashboard and navigates to the 'Chat Logs' or 'Form Logs' sections, the malicious script executes in the context of the administrator's session.
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