CVE-2024-11722

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-11722 is a SQL Injection vulnerability in the Frontend Admin by DynamiApps WordPress plugin, affecting all versions up to and including 3.25.1. The flaw resides in the orderby parameter, which is insufficiently sanitized and prepared before being used in SQL queries. This allows an unauthenticated attacker to inject arbitrary SQL commands into existing queries, potentially extracting sensitive information from the WordPress database. The attack requires that an unauthenticated user has been granted permission to view form submissions and that the form submission shortcode is present on a page. The CVSS score is 5.9 (Medium), and no public exploit code or patch is currently available.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users are advised to monitor the plugin's update channel for a patched version. As the patch status is unknown, supply chain risk is elevated for any site using this plugin.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 5.9 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N)
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L)
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – but requires the target to have granted view permissions to unauthenticated users.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N)
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U)
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – limited data extraction possible.
• Integrity Impact: Low (I:L) – potential to modify data via stacked queries.
• Availability Impact: Low (A:L) – could cause database errors or resource exhaustion.

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS is moderate, the ability for an unauthenticated attacker to perform SQL injection without authentication (given the prerequisite permissions) makes this a significant risk for sites using the plugin.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability is a classic SQL injection in the orderby parameter of the Frontend Admin plugin. The plugin likely constructs SQL queries to retrieve form submissions, using the orderby parameter to sort results. Due to insufficient escaping and lack of parameterized queries, an attacker can inject SQL syntax.

Prerequisite: The site must have a page with the form submission shortcode, and the plugin's settings must allow unauthenticated users to view submissions. This is a non-default configuration, but common in public-facing forms.

Attack Flow:

1. Attacker identifies a page with the form submission shortcode.
2. Attacker sends a crafted HTTP request with a malicious orderby parameter, e.g., orderby=id; SELECT * FROM wp_users--.
3. The plugin appends this to the SQL query without proper sanitization.
4. The injected SQL executes, potentially returning sensitive data (e.g., user credentials, hashes, other form submissions).

Example vulnerable SQL query (pseudo):

SELECT * FROM wp_fa_submissions ORDER BY {orderby} ASC

With injection: ORDER BY id; SELECT * FROM wp_users-- ASC

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only describe the vulnerable code pattern and the expected fix.

Vulnerable Code (pseudo):

$orderby = $_GET['orderby'];
$query = "SELECT * FROM wp_fa_submissions ORDER BY $orderby ASC";
$results = $wpdb->get_results($query);

Patched Code (expected):

$allowed_orderby = array('id', 'date', 'status');
$orderby = in_array($_GET['orderby'], $allowed_orderby) ? $_GET['orderby'] : 'id';
$query = $wpdb->prepare("SELECT * FROM wp_fa_submissions ORDER BY %s ASC", $orderby);
$results = $wpdb->get_results($query);

The fix involves whitelisting allowed values and using prepared statements.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Proof of Concept)

Prerequisites:

• WordPress site with Frontend Admin plugin <= 3.25.1.
• A page with the form submission shortcode (e.g., [fa_form_submissions]).
• Plugin settings allowing unauthenticated users to view submissions.

Exploit Steps:

1. Identify the target page URL (e.g., https://target.com/submissions/).
2. Send a crafted request to test for SQL injection:

   curl -v "https://target.com/submissions/?orderby=id%3B%20SELECT%20*%20FROM%20wp_users--"
   

3. If successful, the response may include user data or error messages indicating injection.

Note: No public exploit code is available; this is a conceptual demonstration.

Blue Team (Detection & Hardening)

Detection:

• Monitor web server logs for unusual orderby parameter values containing SQL keywords (e.g., SELECT, UNION, --, ;).
• Use a WAF to block SQL injection patterns in query parameters.

Hardening:

• Disable unauthenticated access to form submissions if not required.
• Apply input validation and parameterized queries (wait for plugin patch).
• Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with SQL injection rules.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP requests to pages with orderby parameter containing SQL syntax (e.g., orderby=id;SELECT, orderby=1 UNION SELECT).
  • Unusual database error messages in HTTP responses (e.g., "You have an error in your SQL syntax").

• File IOCs:

  • Modified plugin files (if attacker gains write access).
  • Suspicious entries in WordPress database (e.g., new admin users).

• Log IOCs:

  • Web server logs showing orderby parameter with SQL keywords.
  • Database query logs showing unexpected SQL commands.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_11722_SQLi_OrderBy {
    meta:
        description = "Detects SQL injection attempts targeting CVE-2024-11722 in Frontend Admin plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-11722"
    strings:
        $orderby_param = "orderby=" nocase
        $sql_keyword1 = /(SELECT|UNION|INSERT|DELETE|UPDATE|DROP|ALTER|CREATE|EXEC|OR 1=1|--|#|;)/ nocase
    condition:
        $orderby_param and $sql_keyword1
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-11722 SQL Injection via orderby Parameter
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects SQL injection attempts against Frontend Admin plugin orderby parameter
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_combined
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: "orderby="
        cs-uri-query|re: '(SELECT|UNION|INSERT|DELETE|UPDATE|DROP|ALTER|CREATE|EXEC|OR 1=1|--|#|;)'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of SQL keywords in parameter values (unlikely)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-11722 SQL Injection Attempt - Frontend Admin orderby"; flow:to_server,established; content:"orderby="; http_uri; pcre:"/(SELECT|UNION|INSERT|DELETE|UPDATE|DROP|ALTER|CREATE|EXEC|OR 1=1|--|#|;)/Ri"; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable unauthenticated access to form submissions in the plugin settings.
2. Remove the form submission shortcode from public pages if not essential.
3. Apply a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block SQL injection patterns in the orderby parameter.

Long-term Fix:

• Monitor the plugin's update channel for a patched version (expected to use whitelisting and prepared statements).
• If no patch is released, consider replacing the plugin with an alternative.

Workaround:

• Use a reverse proxy or WAF to sanitize the orderby parameter before it reaches WordPress.

Valters IT - DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence