Executive Summary

The Inquiry Form to Posts or Pages plugin for WordPress version 1.0 has a vulnerability involving Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) that leads to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). This happens because the plugin's settings update handler lacks nonce validation and does not sanitize user inputs properly or escape outputs when displaying stored data. Specifically, the settings handler only checks for a POST parameter without verifying a WordPress nonce, allowing unauthenticated attackers to inject malicious scripts by tricking an administrator into visiting a crafted malicious page.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can allow attackers to execute arbitrary scripts in the context of the WordPress administrator's browser session. By exploiting the lack of nonce validation and input sanitization, an attacker can inject malicious code that is stored and later executed when an administrator views the affected plugin settings. This can lead to unauthorized actions, such as stealing sensitive information, performing actions on behalf of the administrator, or compromising the website's security.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, ensure that the Inquiry Form to Posts or Pages plugin is updated to a version that includes proper nonce validation and input sanitization.

As an immediate step, restrict access to the plugin settings page to trusted administrators only and avoid visiting untrusted or suspicious web pages while logged in as an administrator.

Additionally, consider disabling or removing the vulnerable plugin until a secure update is available.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves missing nonce validation and insufficient input sanitization in the Inquiry Form to Posts or Pages WordPress plugin version 1.0, which can be exploited via forged POST requests containing the parameter 'inq_hidden' set to 'Y'.

To detect potential exploitation attempts on your system or network, you can monitor HTTP POST requests targeting the plugin's settings update handler that include the parameter 'inq_hidden=Y'.

For example, on a web server access log, you can search for POST requests containing 'inq_hidden=Y' using commands like:

• grep -i 'POST' /var/log/apache2/access.log | grep 'inq_hidden=Y'
• grep 'inq_hidden=Y' /var/log/nginx/access.log

Additionally, you can use network packet capture tools like tcpdump or Wireshark to filter HTTP POST traffic containing 'inq_hidden=Y' to identify suspicious requests.

• tcpdump -A -s 0 'tcp port 80 and (((ip[2:2] - ((ip[0]&0xf)<<2)) - ((tcp[12]&0xf0)>>2)) != 0)' | grep 'inq_hidden=Y'

Note that detection relies on identifying the specific POST parameter used by the vulnerable plugin, as there is no nonce or other authentication token to validate the request.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts via a forged request that tricks a logged-in Administrator into visiting a malicious page, leading to Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). This could potentially lead to unauthorized actions or data manipulation within the WordPress environment.

While the CVE description does not explicitly mention compliance with standards such as GDPR or HIPAA, vulnerabilities like Stored XSS can increase the risk of data breaches or unauthorized access to sensitive information, which may impact compliance with these regulations.

Organizations using the affected plugin should consider this vulnerability as a risk factor for regulatory compliance, especially where protection of personal or sensitive data is mandated.

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