CVE-2024-11419: Password for WP Plugin CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2024-11419 Overview

CVE-2024-11419 affects the Password for WP plugin for WordPress in all versions up to and including 1.5. The vulnerability is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) weakness caused by missing or incorrect nonce validation in the get3_init_admin_page() function. Unauthenticated attackers can update plugin settings and inject malicious web scripts by tricking a site administrator into clicking a crafted link. Successful exploitation combines CSRF with stored script injection, extending the impact beyond simple state changes. The flaw is classified under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.

Critical Impact
Attackers can persist malicious JavaScript in the plugin's administrative settings when a logged-in administrator visits an attacker-controlled page, enabling script execution in the WordPress admin context.

Affected Products

Password for WP plugin for WordPress — all versions through 1.5
WordPress sites with the vulnerable plugin activated
Administrator accounts targeted through social engineering vectors

Discovery Timeline

2024-12-12 - CVE-2024-11419 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-11419

Vulnerability Analysis

The Password for WP plugin exposes an administrative settings handler through the get3_init_admin_page() function. This function processes state-changing requests without verifying a valid WordPress nonce token. WordPress nonces are the platform's standard defense against CSRF and confirm that a request originated from an authenticated user's intentional action. Without nonce validation, any request that reaches the endpoint with valid admin session cookies is treated as legitimate.

Because the vulnerability also allows attacker-supplied values to be written into settings that are later rendered in the administrative interface, exploitation leads to script injection. The combined effect is a CSRF-to-XSS chain that runs in the privileged admin context. The Exploit Prediction Scoring System places this issue in the lower probability tier for near-term exploitation, but public exploitation requires only a crafted HTML page.

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of a wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer() call inside get3_init_admin_page(). The handler trusts the presence of an authenticated admin session without confirming that the request was intentionally issued. Input written into plugin options is also not sanitized against script content before being stored or echoed back into admin pages.

Attack Vector

Exploitation is network-based and requires user interaction. An attacker hosts a malicious page containing an auto-submitting form or image tag targeting the vulnerable admin endpoint. When an authenticated WordPress administrator visits the page or clicks a crafted link, the browser transmits session cookies with the forged request. The plugin accepts the request, updates settings, and stores attacker-controlled JavaScript. That script executes the next time an administrator loads the affected admin page.

No authenticated exploitation code is required. The vulnerability is described in prose here because no verified public proof-of-concept has been published. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Analysis for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-11419

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected modifications to Password for WP plugin settings without a corresponding administrator action in the WordPress audit log
Presence of <script> tags, event handlers, or encoded JavaScript stored in plugin option values within the wp_options table
Outbound requests from administrator browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after visiting the WordPress admin dashboard

Detection Strategies

Inspect the plugin options in the WordPress database for injected HTML or JavaScript payloads stored by the Password for WP plugin
Review web server access logs for POST requests to the plugin's admin page endpoint that originate from external Referer headers
Correlate administrator session activity with settings changes to identify requests lacking a valid nonce parameter

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable a Web Application Firewall rule that enforces Referer and Origin checks on WordPress wp-admin state-changing requests
Monitor for new or modified administrator accounts and plugin configuration changes following any admin browsing session
Alert on script content appearing in configuration fields that are not expected to contain HTML

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-11419

Immediate Actions Required

Deactivate the Password for WP plugin until a patched release above version 1.5 is confirmed installed
Audit the plugin's stored settings for injected script content and restore known-good values
Force logout of all administrator sessions and rotate administrator passwords if injection is suspected

Patch Information

The vendor addressed the missing nonce validation in the plugin repository. Review the WordPress Trac Changeset 3213879 for the corrective code and upgrade the plugin to the fixed release through the WordPress admin plugin updater.

Workarounds

Restrict access to /wp-admin/ by source IP address at the web server or WAF layer to reduce CSRF exposure
Require administrators to use a dedicated browser profile with no cross-site browsing while managing WordPress
Deploy Content Security Policy headers that constrain inline script execution in the WordPress admin interface

bash

# Example Nginx configuration to restrict wp-admin access by source IP
location ^~ /wp-admin/ {
    allow 203.0.113.0/24;
    deny all;
    try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$args;
}