Unauthenticated Setting Modification in Salon Booking System WordPress Plugin

Executive Summary

The Salon Booking System plugin for WordPress, prior to version 10.30.20, contains a vulnerability that allows any authenticated user, including subscribers, to bypass the manual approval process for new bookings.

This happens because the plugin does not have proper authorization checks on one of its AJAX actions, which lets users modify a plugin setting to automatically confirm all new bookings.

The vulnerability is classified under OWASP A5 (Broken Access Control) and CWE-862 (Missing Authorization).

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability can be detected by checking if the installed version of the Salon Booking System WordPress plugin is prior to 10.30.20, as those versions contain the improper authorization checks on an AJAX action.

To detect exploitation attempts on your network or system, you can monitor AJAX requests related to the Salon Booking System plugin that attempt to modify booking approval settings. Look for authenticated user requests that bypass manual approval processes.

Specific commands are not provided in the available resources, but general approaches include:

• Checking the plugin version via WP-CLI: `wp plugin get salon-booking-system --field=version`
• Monitoring web server logs or using tools like Wireshark or tcpdump to capture AJAX requests that modify booking settings.
• Using WordPress security plugins or scanners that detect vulnerable plugin versions.

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Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can impact you by allowing any authenticated user, even those with low-level permissions like subscribers, to bypass the manual approval process for new bookings.

As a result, unauthorized or unverified bookings could be automatically confirmed without proper oversight, potentially leading to misuse or abuse of the booking system.

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Compliance Impact

The vulnerability in the Salon Booking System WordPress plugin allows authenticated users to bypass manual approval of new bookings by modifying plugin settings due to improper authorization checks.

While the provided information does not explicitly mention compliance with standards such as GDPR or HIPAA, the ability for unauthorized modification of booking approvals could potentially lead to unauthorized data processing or booking confirmations, which might impact compliance with regulations that require strict access controls and data integrity.

However, no direct reference to GDPR, HIPAA, or other regulatory impacts is provided in the available resources.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, you should update the Salon Booking System WordPress plugin to version 10.30.20 or later, where the issue has been fixed.

Until the update is applied, restrict authenticated user roles that can access the vulnerable AJAX action to prevent unauthorized modification of plugin settings and bypassing manual approval of new bookings.

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