CVE-2024-53722 Overview
CVE-2024-53722 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the rockemmusic Favicon My Blog plugin for WordPress. The flaw chains into Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), allowing attackers to persist malicious JavaScript through forged administrator requests. The vulnerability affects all versions of favicon-my-blog up to and including 1.0.2. The issue is classified under CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery) and carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.1.
Critical Impact
An attacker who tricks an authenticated administrator into visiting a crafted page can store arbitrary JavaScript in the WordPress site, leading to session theft, account takeover, or further compromise of visitors.
Affected Products
- Favicon My Blog plugin (favicon-my-blog) versions up to and including 1.0.2
- WordPress installations using the vulnerable plugin
- Sites where administrators can be lured to attacker-controlled pages
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-12-02 - CVE-2024-53722 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-53722
Vulnerability Analysis
The Favicon My Blog plugin exposes administrative actions without verifying the origin of the request. The plugin does not validate WordPress nonces or enforce CSRF tokens on state-changing endpoints that update plugin settings. Because the affected setting fields are rendered back into administrative pages without proper output encoding, an attacker can combine forged requests with script payloads to achieve Stored XSS.
Exploitation requires user interaction. An authenticated administrator must visit an attacker-controlled page while logged in to the WordPress dashboard. The forged request silently submits attacker-supplied content, which is persisted in the plugin configuration. The injected payload then executes whenever any administrator loads the affected plugin page.
The scope change reflected in the CVSS vector indicates that the impact extends beyond the vulnerable plugin into the broader WordPress administrative context. The EPSS score is 0.163%, indicating low observed exploitation probability at this time.
Root Cause
The root cause is the absence of CSRF protection on administrative form handlers within the plugin. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() primitives for this purpose, and the affected plugin versions do not consistently apply them. Compounding this, user-controlled values are not escaped with esc_attr() or esc_html() before being echoed back to the admin interface.
Attack Vector
The attack vector is network-based and requires user interaction from a privileged WordPress user. An attacker hosts a page containing an auto-submitting HTML form or fetch request targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoint. When the administrator visits this page, the browser sends authenticated cookies along with the forged request. The malicious payload is then stored and rendered as JavaScript in subsequent administrative sessions.
No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical details.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-53722
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags or event handler attributes (onerror, onload) stored in WordPress wp_options entries associated with the Favicon My Blog plugin
- HTTP referer headers showing administrator requests originating from external domains immediately before plugin setting changes
- New or modified WordPress administrator accounts created shortly after a plugin configuration change
Detection Strategies
- Audit the wp_options table for plugin option rows containing HTML or JavaScript constructs
- Review WordPress audit logs for plugin settings updates that lack a corresponding admin-area navigation trail
- Inspect web server access logs for POST requests to /wp-admin/options-general.php or plugin endpoints with off-site referers
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable a WordPress activity logging plugin that records option changes with user context and referer headers
- Monitor egress traffic from administrator workstations for connections to suspicious domains that may host CSRF landing pages
- Alert on script execution patterns within the WordPress admin DOM context using browser-side content security monitoring
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-53722
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the Favicon My Blog plugin if a patched version is not available
- Restrict administrative access to trusted networks using IP allowlisting or VPN enforcement
- Force a password reset and session invalidation for all WordPress administrator accounts
- Review and sanitize any plugin option values that contain HTML or script content
Patch Information
No fixed version is identified in the available advisory data. The vulnerability affects all releases up to and including 1.0.2. Site operators should consult the Patchstack advisory for updated patch status before redeploying the plugin.
Workarounds
- Remove the plugin entirely until a vendor patch becomes available
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that blocks cross-origin POST requests to the plugin's administrative endpoints
- Apply a Content Security Policy (CSP) that disallows inline script execution in the WordPress admin interface
- Enforce SameSite=Strict on WordPress authentication cookies to reduce CSRF exposure
# Remove the vulnerable plugin via WP-CLI
wp plugin deactivate favicon-my-blog
wp plugin delete favicon-my-blog
# Audit options table for residual injected content
wp db query "SELECT option_name, option_value FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE '%favicon%';"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
