CVE-2024-13216

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-13216 is a Sensitive Information Exposure vulnerability in the HT Event – WordPress Event Manager Plugin for Elementor plugin for WordPress. The flaw resides in the render function within /includes/widgets/htevent_sponsor.php. An authenticated attacker with Contributor-level access or higher can exploit this to extract sensitive data from private, pending, scheduled, and draft templates. This is a WordPress ecosystem issue, not related to the underlying web server (Apache/Nginx). The vulnerability is unpatched as of the latest version (1.4.7), and no public exploit code or proof-of-concept is available.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users should verify the integrity of their plugin files and monitor for updates. No known supply chain compromise has been reported.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: Low (Contributor)
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (exposure of template data)
• Integrity Impact: None
• Availability Impact: None

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS score is moderate, the ability to extract draft/pending content could lead to information disclosure that aids further attacks.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the render function of the htevent_sponsor.php widget file. The plugin fails to properly restrict which post statuses (e.g., private, draft, pending, scheduled) are accessible when rendering sponsor data. An authenticated user with Contributor-level access can call the render function with crafted parameters to retrieve template data that should be hidden from non-authors or non-editors.

The core issue is a missing capability check or status filter in the render method. The function likely queries posts without enforcing the post_status visibility rules, allowing an attacker to enumerate and extract sensitive content.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the vulnerable code is assumed to be in /includes/widgets/htevent_sponsor.php. The render function likely contains a query similar to:

// Vulnerable code (hypothetical)
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'htevent_sponsor',
    'post_status' => array('publish', 'private', 'draft', 'pending', 'future'),
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
);
$sponsors = get_posts($args);

A patched version would restrict the query to only publish status for non-privileged users:

// Patched code (hypothetical)
$allowed_statuses = array('publish');
if (current_user_can('edit_others_posts')) {
    $allowed_statuses = array('publish', 'private', 'draft', 'pending', 'future');
}
$args = array(
    'post_type' => 'htevent_sponsor',
    'post_status' => $allowed_statuses,
    'posts_per_page' => -1,
);
$sponsors = get_posts($args);

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• WordPress instance with HT Event plugin <= 1.4.7
• Valid user account with Contributor role or higher

Exploitation Steps:

1. Authenticate to WordPress as a Contributor.
2. Craft a request to the vulnerable endpoint (likely via AJAX or direct widget rendering).
3. Use a tool like Burp Suite or cURL to send a POST request with parameters that trigger the render function without proper status filtering.

Example cURL command (hypothetical endpoint):

curl -X POST 'https://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php' \
  -H 'Cookie: wordpress_logged_in_...' \
  -d 'action=htevent_sponsor_render&post_id=0&status[]=private&status[]=draft'

4. Parse the response to extract sensitive template data.

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual AJAX requests to admin-ajax.php with actions related to htevent_sponsor.
• Look for authenticated users (Contributor level) querying non-publish post statuses.
• Check for abnormal spikes in database queries for htevent_sponsor post type.

Hunting:

• Search logs for action=htevent_sponsor_render or similar.
• Review user activity for Contributor accounts accessing draft/private content.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File: /includes/widgets/htevent_sponsor.php (presence of vulnerable code)
• Log Entry: POST /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=htevent_sponsor_render and status[] parameters containing private, draft, pending, or future.
• Database Query: Unusual wp_posts queries with post_status IN ('private','draft','pending','future') for post_type = 'htevent_sponsor'.
• User Agent: Any non-standard User-Agent making repeated AJAX calls to the vulnerable endpoint.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_13216_HT_Event_Sponsor_Exposure {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable HT Event plugin file with sensitive information exposure"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-13216"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "function render" nocase
        $vuln_query = "get_posts" nocase
        $vuln_status = "post_status" nocase
        $vuln_file = "htevent_sponsor.php" nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_file and $vuln_func and $vuln_query and $vuln_status
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-13216 - HT Event Sponsor Sensitive Information Exposure
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2024-13216 via AJAX requests
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-13216
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_combined
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query|contains: 'action=htevent_sponsor_render'
        cs-uri-query|contains|all:
            - 'status[]=private'
            - 'status[]=draft'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin activity (rare)
level: medium
tags:
    - attack.t1552
    - attack.t1083
    - cve.2024.13216

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-13216 - HT Event Sponsor Sensitive Information Exposure";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=htevent_sponsor_render"; http_client_body;
    content:"status[]="; http_client_body;
    pcre:"/status\[\]=private|status\[\]=draft|status\[\]=pending|status\[\]=future/i";
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:10000001;
    rev:1;
    reference:cve,2024-13216;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin if not critical to operations.
2. Restrict Contributor roles to only necessary users.
3. Apply a virtual patch using a WAF (e.g., ModSecurity) to block requests containing status[]=private or similar in admin-ajax.php.

Long-term Fix:

• Wait for the vendor to release a patched version (currently unpatched).
• Implement a custom code fix by modifying /includes/widgets/htevent_sponsor.php to restrict post status queries based on user capabilities (see patched code example above).

Workaround:

• Use a WordPress security plugin to add capability checks for AJAX endpoints.

Valters IT