CVE-2024-43264

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-43264 is a vulnerability in the WordPress plugin "Create by Mediavine" (slug: mediavine-create), affecting versions up to and including 1.9.8. The flaw is classified as an Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data (CWE-201), which allows an unauthenticated attacker to extract sensitive data from the application's responses. This is a WordPress ecosystem issue, not related to the underlying web server (Apache or Nginx). The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 5.3 (Medium) and an EPSS score of 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time. No public proof-of-concept or patch details are available.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This is a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users should verify the integrity of the plugin by checking the plugin's checksum against the WordPress.org API. The plugin is not available via NPM, PyPI, Go, or Ruby ecosystems.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Base Score: 5.3 (Medium)
• Attack Vector: Network (AV:N) – exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity: Low (AC:L) – no special conditions required.
• Privileges Required: None (PR:N) – unauthenticated.
• User Interaction: None (UI:N) – no user action needed.
• Scope: Unchanged (S:U) – impact confined to the vulnerable component.
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (C:L) – limited sensitive data exposure.
• Integrity Impact: None (I:N) – no data modification.
• Availability Impact: None (A:N) – no denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. The vulnerability allows information disclosure but does not enable code execution or data modification.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the mediavine-create plugin's handling of data sent to the client. Specifically, the plugin fails to sanitize or filter sensitive information (e.g., internal paths, database credentials, API keys, or user data) before including it in HTTP responses. This can occur in AJAX endpoints, REST API responses, or error messages.

Root Cause: The plugin uses functions like wp_send_json() or wp_die() without properly stripping sensitive data from the output. For example, debug information or configuration details may be inadvertently exposed.

Attack Vector: An unauthenticated attacker sends crafted HTTP requests to the WordPress site, targeting endpoints exposed by the plugin. The attacker then parses the response for sensitive strings.

Impact: An attacker could obtain:

• Internal file paths (e.g., /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/mediavine-create/)
• Database credentials (if exposed in error messages)
• Nonce values or session tokens
• User email addresses or other PII

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, the following is a hypothetical example of the vulnerable code pattern and a potential fix.

Vulnerable Code (PHP):

// In a plugin AJAX handler
function mediavine_create_ajax_handler() {
    $data = get_option('mediavine_create_settings');
    wp_send_json($data); // Exposes all settings, including sensitive ones
}

Patched Code (Hypothetical):

function mediavine_create_ajax_handler() {
    $data = get_option('mediavine_create_settings');
    // Remove sensitive fields before sending
    unset($data['api_key']);
    unset($data['db_password']);
    wp_send_json($data);
}

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Prerequisites:

• Target WordPress site with mediavine-create plugin version <= 1.9.8.
• No authentication required.

Exploitation Steps:

1. Identify vulnerable endpoints by reviewing the plugin's source code or using a wordlist.
2. Send a GET request to a known AJAX endpoint, e.g.:

   GET /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=mediavine_create_get_data HTTP/1.1
   Host: target.com
   

3. Analyze the JSON response for sensitive information.

Example cURL command:

curl -v "http://target.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=mediavine_create_get_data"

Expected Output:

{
  "api_key": "sk_live_1234567890abcdef",
  "db_host": "localhost",
  "db_user": "wp_user",
  "db_password": "secret123"
}

Blue Team

Detection:

• Monitor for unusual requests to admin-ajax.php with unknown or suspicious action parameters.
• Look for responses containing patterns like api_key, password, secret, or file paths.

Hunting Query (Splunk):

index=web sourcetype=access_combined
uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" action=mediavine_create_*
| rex field=uri "action=(?<action>[^&]+)"
| stats count by src_ip, action, status
| where status=200

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network IOCs:

  • HTTP requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters starting with mediavine_create_.
  • Responses containing JSON objects with keys like api_key, db_password, secret, or file_path.

• File IOCs:

  • Plugin file: wp-content/plugins/mediavine-create/mediavine-create.php
  • Version string in plugin header: Version: 1.9.8

• Log IOCs:

  • Web server logs showing repeated requests to admin-ajax.php with unknown actions.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_43264_Mediavine_Create_Info_Leak {
    meta:
        description = "Detects sensitive information leakage from Mediavine Create plugin"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        cve = "CVE-2024-43264"
    strings:
        $sensitive1 = /"api_key"\s*:\s*"[^"]+"/ nocase
        $sensitive2 = /"db_password"\s*:\s*"[^"]+"/ nocase
        $sensitive3 = /"secret"\s*:\s*"[^"]+"/ nocase
        $sensitive4 = /"file_path"\s*:\s*"[^"]+"/ nocase
        $plugin_ref = "mediavine-create"
    condition:
        any of ($sensitive*) and $plugin_ref
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-43264 - Mediavine Create Sensitive Information Disclosure
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects HTTP responses containing sensitive data from Mediavine Create plugin
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-query|contains: "action=mediavine_create_"
        sc-status: 200
        response_body|contains:
            - "api_key"
            - "db_password"
            - "secret"
            - "file_path"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate plugin functionality (if patched)
level: high

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-43264 Mediavine Create Info Leak"; flow:to_server,established; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=mediavine_create_"; http_uri; pcre:"/(api_key|db_password|secret|file_path)/Ri"; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

Immediate Actions:

1. Disable the plugin until a patch is released.
2. Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests to admin-ajax.php with action parameters containing mediavine_create_.
3. Review server logs for any signs of exploitation.

Long-term Fix:

• Monitor the WordPress plugin repository for an update.
• Apply the patch as soon as it becomes available.
• Consider replacing the plugin with an alternative if no patch is released.

Workaround:

• Add the following to .htaccess to block direct access to the plugin's AJAX handlers:

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} action=mediavine_create_ [NC]
    RewriteRule ^wp-admin/admin-ajax.php - [F,L]
</IfModule>

Valters IT
Securing WordPress, one plugin at a time.