A widely-used WordPress plugin called Automatic (premium version), developed by ValvePress, has been discovered to contain severe security vulnerabilities, endangering over 40,000 websites. This plugin, known for its ability to generate posts from diverse sources like YouTube and Twitter, is now identified as a potential gateway for cyber-attacks due to these flaws. The vulnerabilities include unauthenticated arbitrary SQL execution (CVE-2024-27956) and unauthenticated arbitrary file download with Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks (CVE-2024-27954), putting site integrity and confidentiality at risk.
The first vulnerability, CVE-2024-27956, allows unauthorized users to execute arbitrary SQL queries on affected WordPress sites. This vulnerability was discovered in the inc/csv.php file, where attackers could supply arbitrary SQL queries to the $q variable and execute them. Despite attempts to prevent exploitation through password trimming and MD5 hashing, attackers could bypass these measures by providing a whitespace character, enabling complete SQL query execution.
The second vulnerability, CVE-2024-27954, relates to arbitrary file downloads and SSRF attacks, found in the downloader.php file. Attackers can exploit this flaw to fetch arbitrary URLs or local files using the $_GET[‘link’] parameter, posing significant risks to the WordPress site’s data integrity and confidentiality. PatchStack has released a technical article outlining the critical vulnerabilities fixed in the latest version of the WordPress Automatic Plugin through security patches.
In response to these vulnerabilities, ValvePress has issued updates to mitigate the risks. The inc/csv.php file was removed entirely to address CVE-2024-27956, while a nonce check and validation check on the $link variable were introduced to counter CVE-2024-27954. These measures aim to enhance the plugin’s security against unauthorized SQL executions and file downloads.
