Executive Summary

The ePaperFlip Publisher plugin for WordPress has a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the 'publicationid' attribute of the epaperflip_embed shortcode. This occurs because the plugin does not properly sanitize or escape input on this attribute, which is directly injected into inline JavaScript. As a result, authenticated users with Contributor-level access or higher can inject arbitrary web scripts into pages. These scripts execute whenever any user accesses the affected page.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability allows attackers with Contributor-level access or above to inject malicious scripts into web pages. These scripts can execute in the browsers of users who visit the infected pages, potentially leading to theft of user credentials, session hijacking, defacement, or other malicious actions. Since the vulnerability is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting, the injected scripts persist on the site and affect all visitors to the compromised pages.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Detection Guidance

Detection of this vulnerability involves identifying the presence of the vulnerable ePaperFlip Publisher plugin on your WordPress installation and checking for usage of the 'epaperflip_embed' shortcode with the 'publicationid' attribute.

Since the vulnerability is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'publicationid' attribute injected into inline JavaScript, you can search your WordPress content database for instances of the shortcode that include suspicious or unexpected script content.

• Use a database query to find posts or pages containing the shortcode, for example in MySQL: SELECT ID, post_content FROM wp_posts WHERE post_content LIKE '%[epaperflip_embed publicationid=%';
• Look for suspicious JavaScript or encoded payloads within the 'publicationid' attribute in the shortcode.
• On the server or network level, monitor HTTP responses for inline scripts containing unexpected or malicious code injected via this shortcode.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Mitigation Strategies

Immediate mitigation steps include disabling or removing the vulnerable ePaperFlip Publisher plugin from your WordPress installation, as it is no longer available for download and was last updated 11 years ago.

Restrict Contributor-level and higher user permissions to prevent unauthorized shortcode injection.

Review and sanitize existing content that uses the 'epaperflip_embed' shortcode to remove any injected malicious scripts.

Monitor your site for suspicious activity and consider applying web application firewall (WAF) rules to block exploitation attempts targeting this vulnerability.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0

Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access and above to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. This Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaw can lead to unauthorized access to user data or session hijacking.

Such security weaknesses can impact compliance with common standards and regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, which require protection of user data and prevention of unauthorized access or data breaches.

However, the provided context does not explicitly mention compliance impacts or specific regulatory considerations.

Useful 0 Not Useful 0