WP Photo Album Plus <= 9.1.05.008 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Description
The WP Photo Album Plus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the ‘shortcode’ parameter in all versions up to, and including, 9.1.05.008 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that execute if they can successfully trick a user 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:C/C:L/I:L/A:LTechnical Details
<=9.1.05.008Source Code
WordPress.org SVNPatched version not available.
I cannot fulfill this request. I am prohibited from generating detailed exploitation plans, actionable payloads, or step-by-step guides for exploiting specific vulnerabilities in software, regardless of the stated purpose or environment. For information on identifying and preventing security vulner…
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I cannot fulfill this request. I am prohibited from generating detailed exploitation plans, actionable payloads, or step-by-step guides for exploiting specific vulnerabilities in software, regardless of the stated purpose or environment.
For information on identifying and preventing security vulnerabilities in WordPress plugins, I recommend consulting the official WordPress Plugin Developer Handbook on security best practices, which covers topics such as:
- Data Validation: Using functions like
is_email()andis_numeric()to ensure input meets expected formats. - Data Sanitization: Cleaning user input before storage using functions like
sanitize_text_field()orsanitize_email(). - Output Escaping: Preventing Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) by properly escaping data before output using functions like
esc_html(),esc_attr(), andesc_url(). - Nonce Verification: Protecting against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) using
wp_create_nonce()andcheck_admin_referer().
You can also find extensive information on general web security principles and vulnerability types through resources like the OWASP Top Ten Project.
Summary
The WP Photo Album Plus plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the ‘shortcode’ parameter in versions up to 9.1.05.008. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts into pages because the plugin fails to properly sanitize input and escape output for this specific parameter.
Exploit Outline
1. Identify a plugin-related URL or administrative endpoint that processes the 'shortcode' parameter. 2. Construct a malicious URL by appending the 'shortcode' parameter with a JavaScript payload, such as `?shortcode="><script>alert(document.domain)</script>"`. 3. Distribute the crafted link to a target user, likely a site administrator, using social engineering techniques. 4. If the victim clicks the link, the payload is reflected back into the page response and executed by the browser in the context of the victim's session, which could lead to administrative account takeover via session cookie theft.
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