Overview
In this blog post, we’ll be discussing a critical vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-13786, that affects the education theme for WordPress, a widely used Content Management System (CMS). This vulnerability could potentially lead to a system compromise or data leakage, posing serious security risks for users of this theme. It is paramount for users and developers alike to understand the severity of this vulnerability, how it operates, and the steps required to mitigate it.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2024-13786
Severity: Critical, with a CVSS score of 9.8
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage. An attacker can manipulate the PHP Object to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the PHP Object Injection (POP) chain present.
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
WordPress Education Theme | All versions up to and including 3.6.10
How the Exploit Works
In the case of CVE-2024-13786, the vulnerability arises due to deserialization of untrusted input in the ‘themerex_callback_view_more_posts’ function. This allows unauthenticated attackers to inject a PHP Object. The vulnerability itself doesn’t pose a threat unless another plugin or theme containing a POP chain is installed on the site. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it may allow the attacker to perform actions like delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code depending on the POP chain present.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. This is simplified pseudocode to illustrate the exploitation process:
POST /themerex_callback_view_more_posts HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "serialized_PHP_object": "O:8:'stdClass':1:{s:4:'file';s:12:'/etc/passwd';}" }In this example, the attacker sends a serialized PHP object to the ‘themerex_callback_view_more_posts’ function. If a POP chain is present, the attacker could potentially gain access to sensitive information or execute arbitrary code.
Mitigation Measures
To mitigate this vulnerability, users should apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. In the meantime, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as temporary mitigation. Furthermore, users should avoid installing plugins or themes that may contain a POP chain until the patch has been applied. It’s always a good practice to keep your system and its components up-to-date to minimize exposure to such vulnerabilities.