CVE-2024-49325

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-49325 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress plugin Photo Gallery Builder by wpdiscover, affecting versions up to and including 3.0. This flaw allows unauthenticated attackers to access functionality that should be protected by Access Control Lists (ACLs), potentially leading to unauthorized data exposure or manipulation. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 4.3 (Medium) and an EPSS score of 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood at this time. No public proof-of-concept (PoC) or exploit code has been released, and no patch is currently available. As a WordPress plugin vulnerability, it is critical to assess exposure within the WordPress ecosystem.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability resides in a WordPress plugin distributed via the official WordPress plugin repository. Users who installed the plugin directly from the WordPress dashboard or via manual upload are affected. No known supply chain compromise has been reported, but the lack of a patch increases risk for sites using this plugin.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• Attack Vector (AV): Network (N) – Exploitable remotely.
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (L) – No special conditions required.
• Privileges Required (PR): None (N) – No authentication needed.
• User Interaction (UI): None (N) – No user action required.
• Scope (S): Unchanged (U) – Exploit does not affect other components.
• Confidentiality (C): Low (L) – Limited data exposure possible.
• Integrity (I): None (N) – No data modification.
• Availability (A): None (N) – No denial of service.

Threat Level: Medium. While the CVSS score is 4.3, the lack of authentication requirements and the potential for unauthorized access to plugin functionality make this a concern for WordPress sites.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from improper authorization checks in the photo-gallery-builder plugin. Specifically, the plugin fails to validate user permissions before allowing access to certain administrative or privileged functions. This is a classic Missing Authorization flaw (CWE-862). An unauthenticated attacker can directly call AJAX endpoints or REST API routes that should require at least a subscriber-level or higher role. The exact affected endpoints are not publicly documented, but typical patterns include gallery creation, deletion, or configuration changes.

The plugin likely registers AJAX actions without checking current_user_can() or similar WordPress capability checks. For example, a function like wp_ajax_nopriv_* might be improperly exposed, allowing anyone to trigger it.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Since no patch is available, we can only hypothesize the fix. The vulnerable code likely resembles:

// Vulnerable: No capability check
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_photo_gallery_save', 'photo_gallery_save_handler');
function photo_gallery_save_handler() {
    // Process gallery data
}

A patched version would include:

// Patched: Check user capability
add_action('wp_ajax_photo_gallery_save', 'photo_gallery_save_handler');
function photo_gallery_save_handler() {
    if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
        wp_die('Unauthorized');
    }
    // Process gallery data
}

The key difference is the removal of the nopriv_ prefix (which allows unauthenticated access) and the addition of a capability check.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

Since no public exploit exists, a red team would need to reverse-engineer the plugin. Steps:

1. Identify AJAX endpoints: Search the plugin source for wp_ajax_ and wp_ajax_nopriv_ hooks.
2. Test unauthenticated access: Send POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with the action parameter set to discovered endpoints.
3. Craft payload: For example, if an endpoint allows gallery creation, send:

   curl -X POST http://target/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php \
     -d "action=photo_gallery_create&gallery_name=test"
   

4. Verify unauthorized access: Check if the action succeeds without authentication.

Blue Team

1. Monitor for unusual AJAX requests: Look for requests to admin-ajax.php with unknown or suspicious action parameters.
2. Check for missing authentication: Review plugin source for nopriv_ hooks that should require authentication.
3. Implement virtual patching: Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to block requests to known vulnerable endpoints.
4. Disable the plugin: If the plugin is not critical, deactivate it until a patch is available.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: HTTP POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action parameters like photo_gallery_* from unauthenticated sources.
• File: Presence of the plugin directory /wp-content/plugins/photo-gallery-builder/ with version <= 3.0.
• Log: WordPress debug log entries showing unauthorized access attempts to plugin AJAX handlers.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_49325_PhotoGalleryBuilder {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable Photo Gallery Builder plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-17"
        reference = "CVE-2024-49325"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "wp_ajax_nopriv_" nocase
        $plugin_slug = "photo-gallery-builder" nocase
    condition:
        $plugin_slug and $vuln_func
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-49325 - Unauthenticated AJAX Access to Photo Gallery Builder
id: 8a7b3c2d-1e5f-4a6b-9c8d-0e1f2a3b4c5d
status: experimental
description: Detects unauthenticated POST requests to admin-ajax.php with photo gallery builder actions
author: Valters IT
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: POST
        cs-uri-stem: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
        cs-uri-query|contains: action=photo_gallery_
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin actions (if authenticated)
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (
    msg:"CVE-2024-49325 - Unauthenticated Photo Gallery Builder AJAX Access";
    flow:to_server,established;
    content:"POST"; http_method;
    content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri;
    content:"action=photo_gallery_"; http_client_body;
    classtype:attempted-recon;
    sid:1000001;
    rev:1;
)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Disable the Photo Gallery Builder plugin if not essential.
2. Virtual Patching: Block requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php containing action=photo_gallery_ from unauthenticated users via WAF.
3. Monitor: Watch for unauthorized access attempts in web server logs.
4. Update: Check the WordPress plugin repository for updates; if none, consider replacing the plugin with an alternative.
5. Hardening: Ensure WordPress user roles and capabilities are properly configured.

Valters IT
DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence