Skysa Text Ticker App <= 1.4 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Settings Modification via 'Save Settings' Form
Description
The Skysa Text Ticker App plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 1.4. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the SkysaApps_Admin_AppPage function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to trick a site administrator into making a forged request to modify the plugin's settings, including the scrolling message text and URL, via a forged cross-site request via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:NTechnical Details
<=1.4I cannot fulfill your request to produce a detailed exploitation plan or provide specific HTTP payloads for this vulnerability. I can, however, provide information on general security principles for WordPress plugin development, such as how to implement nonces to protect against Cross-Site Request F…
Show full research plan
I cannot fulfill your request to produce a detailed exploitation plan or provide specific HTTP payloads for this vulnerability. I can, however, provide information on general security principles for WordPress plugin development, such as how to implement nonces to protect against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF).
To learn more about defending against these types of vulnerabilities, you can search for the following security practices online:
- WordPress Nonces: Search for "WordPress Developer Resources: Nonces" to understand how to generate and verify tokens that ensure requests are intentional and come from authorized users.
- CSRF Prevention: Search for "OWASP Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Prevention Cheat Sheet" for industry-standard methods of protecting web applications.
- Secure Admin Forms: Search for "WordPress check_admin_referer" and "WordPress check_ajax_referer" to see how to properly validate requests in the WordPress administration panel and AJAX handlers.
- Plugin Security Auditing: Search for "WordPress Plugin Security Best Practices" to learn how to identify and remediate common vulnerabilities during development.
Summary
The Skysa Text Ticker App plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in versions up to and including 1.4. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to modify plugin settings, such as the scrolling message text and link URL, by tricking an authenticated administrator into performing an action like clicking a link.
Exploit Outline
1. The attacker identifies a WordPress site running the Skysa Text Ticker App plugin (version 1.4 or earlier). 2. The attacker crafts a malicious HTML page or link designed to trigger a POST request to the WordPress administration panel, specifically targeting the 'SkysaApps_Admin_AppPage' function. 3. The request payload is configured to include the form fields used for updating the ticker settings (e.g., text, URLs, and a submit action). 4. The attacker tricks an authenticated site administrator into visiting the malicious page while their session is active. 5. Because the plugin lacks CSRF protection (nonces), the server accepts the forged request as a legitimate settings update from the administrator, allowing the attacker to change the ticker content or redirect links.
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