CVE-2024-8910

Executive Summary

CVE-2024-8910 is a Sensitive Information Exposure vulnerability in the HT Mega – Absolute Addons For Elementor WordPress plugin. The flaw resides in the render function within includes/widgets/htmega_accordion.php, affecting all versions up to and including 2.6.5. Authenticated attackers with Contributor-level access or higher can exploit this to extract sensitive private, pending, and draft template data. 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 or patch details are currently 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 ensure they are sourced from trusted channels. 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:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Base Score: 4.3 (Medium)
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: Low (Contributor-level)
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (exposure of template data)
• Integrity Impact: None
• Availability Impact: None

The threat level is considered Medium due to the requirement for authenticated access and the limited impact on confidentiality. However, the exposure of private, pending, and draft template data could lead to information leakage and potential further attacks.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability exists in the render function of the htmega_accordion.php widget file. The plugin fails to properly restrict access to template data based on post status. When rendering accordion widgets, the function retrieves and displays template data without checking whether the template is published, private, pending, or draft. This allows authenticated users with Contributor-level access (who can create and edit posts but not publish them) to view sensitive template data that should be restricted.

The core issue is a missing capability check or post status filter in the data retrieval logic. The render function likely uses get_post() or WP_Query without specifying post_status or checking user capabilities, thus exposing non-public templates.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (version 2.6.5 and below):

// includes/widgets/htmega_accordion.php
public function render() {
    // ... widget setup ...
    $template_id = $this->get_settings('template_id');
    if ($template_id) {
        $template = get_post($template_id);
        // No check for post_status or user capability
        echo $template->post_content;
    }
}

Patched Code (hypothetical fix):

// includes/widgets/htmega_accordion.php
public function render() {
    // ... widget setup ...
    $template_id = $this->get_settings('template_id');
    if ($template_id) {
        $template = get_post($template_id);
        // Check if the template is published or user has appropriate capabilities
        if ($template && ($template->post_status === 'publish' || current_user_can('read_private_posts'))) {
            echo $template->post_content;
        }
    }
}

The patch adds a check for post_status and user capabilities to ensure only published templates are exposed to unauthorized users.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

1. Prerequisites: Authenticated WordPress account with Contributor-level access or higher.
2. Steps:
   • Log in to the WordPress admin panel.
   • Navigate to a page or post where the HT Mega Accordion widget is used.
   • Inspect the page source or use browser developer tools to identify the template ID used by the widget.
   • Craft a request to the vulnerable endpoint (e.g., via AJAX or direct page load) that triggers the render function with a non-public template ID.
   • Observe the response containing sensitive template data.

Example Exploit (Python):

import requests

target_url = "http://example.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"
nonce = "your_nonce_here"  # Obtain from page source
template_id = 123  # Replace with target template ID

payload = {
    "action": "htmega_accordion_render",
    "template_id": template_id,
    "_ajax_nonce": nonce
}

response = requests.post(target_url, data=payload, cookies={"wordpress_logged_in": "your_cookie"})
print(response.text)

Blue Team

1. Detection: Monitor for unusual access patterns to the admin-ajax.php endpoint with the htmega_accordion_render action.
2. Mitigation:
   • Restrict Contributor-level access to only necessary users.
   • Implement a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule to block requests with suspicious template IDs.
   • Apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available.
3. Hunting: Search logs for requests containing action=htmega_accordion_render and template_id parameters with values that do not correspond to published templates.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• File Path: wp-content/plugins/ht-mega-for-elementor/includes/widgets/htmega_accordion.php
• HTTP Request Pattern: POST to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=htmega_accordion_render and template_id parameter.
• Log Entries: Repeated access to admin-ajax.php with the above action from a single authenticated user.
• Network Traffic: Outbound connections from the WordPress server to external IPs if exfiltration occurs.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2024_8910_HT_Mega_Accordion {
    meta:
        description = "Detects vulnerable HT Mega plugin files"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2024-10-27"
        reference = "CVE-2024-8910"
    strings:
        $vuln_func = "function render()" ascii wide nocase
        $vuln_file = "htmega_accordion.php" ascii wide nocase
        $vuln_call = "get_post(" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        $vuln_func and $vuln_file and $vuln_call
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2024-8910 HT Mega Accordion Sensitive Data Exposure
id: 7a8b9c0d-1e2f-3a4b-5c6d-7e8f9a0b1c2d
status: experimental
description: Detects exploitation attempts of CVE-2024-8910 via admin-ajax.php
author: Valters IT
date: 2024-10-27
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
    service: access
detection:
    selection:
        cs-method: 'POST'
        c-uri: '/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php'
        cs-uri-query: 'action=htmega_accordion_render'
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate use of the plugin by administrators
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2024-8910 HT Mega Accordion Data Exposure"; flow:to_server,established; content:"POST"; http_method; content:"/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php"; http_uri; content:"action=htmega_accordion_render"; http_client_body; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate Actions:

   • Disable the HT Mega plugin until a patch is available.
   • Review and restrict Contributor-level user accounts.
   • Monitor logs for exploitation attempts.

2. Long-term Fix:

   • Apply the vendor patch when released (check plugin update page).
   • Implement a WAF rule to block requests with action=htmega_accordion_render from non-admin users.

3. Workaround:

   • Modify the vulnerable file to add capability checks (see patched code example).
   • Use a security plugin to restrict access to sensitive template data.

Valters IT
Securing Digital Frontiers