Executive Summary

The Shopire theme for WordPress has a vulnerability in the function shopire_admin_install_plugin() present in all versions up to and including 1.0.57. This function lacks proper capability checks, which means that authenticated users with Subscriber-level access or higher can exploit this flaw to install the 'fable-extra' plugin without authorization.

The vulnerability arises because the AJAX handler responsible for installing the plugin does not verify if the user has the necessary permissions to install plugins. This missing check allows lower-privileged users to perform actions typically restricted to administrators.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows authenticated users with minimal privileges (Subscriber-level and above) to install and potentially activate plugins on the WordPress site. This can lead to unauthorized modifications of the site, including the installation of malicious plugins that could compromise site integrity, security, or functionality.

Since the attacker can install plugins, they might escalate their privileges, inject malicious code, or disrupt the normal operation of the website.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Compliance Impact

I don't know

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Detection Guidance

[{'type': 'paragraph', 'content': "This vulnerability involves unauthorized plugin installation via AJAX requests in the Shopire WordPress theme. Detection can focus on monitoring AJAX POST requests to the WordPress admin AJAX handler with the action parameter set to 'install_act_plugin'."}, {'type': 'paragraph', 'content': "Specifically, you can look for suspicious POST requests to the AJAX URL containing 'action=install_act_plugin' originating from users with Subscriber-level access or above."}, {'type': 'paragraph', 'content': 'On the server or network level, you might use web server logs or intrusion detection systems to filter such requests.'}, {'type': 'list_item', 'content': "Example command to search web server logs for suspicious AJAX plugin install attempts: grep 'action=install_act_plugin' /var/log/apache2/access.log"}, {'type': 'list_item', 'content': 'Use WordPress audit or security plugins to log and alert on plugin installation or activation events triggered by low-privilege users.'}, {'type': 'list_item', 'content': 'Monitor WordPress AJAX requests in real time using tools like tcpdump or Wireshark filtering HTTP POST requests to admin-ajax.php with the relevant action.'}] [1, 6]

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Mitigation Strategies

[{'type': 'paragraph', 'content': 'The immediate mitigation step is to update the Shopire WordPress theme to version 1.0.58 or later, where the vulnerability is fixed by adding proper capability checks and nonce verification to the AJAX plugin installation process.'}, {'type': 'paragraph', 'content': 'If updating immediately is not possible, restrict access to the WordPress admin area to trusted users only and monitor for suspicious AJAX requests attempting to install plugins.'}, {'type': 'paragraph', 'content': 'Additionally, ensure that user roles and permissions are properly configured so that Subscriber-level users do not have elevated capabilities.'}, {'type': 'paragraph', 'content': "Applying Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block unauthorized AJAX requests targeting 'install_act_plugin' action can also help mitigate exploitation."}] [1, 6]

Useful 0 Not Useful 0