CVE-2024-54405 Overview
CVE-2024-54405 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the ECT Social Share WordPress plugin developed by etemplates. The flaw affects all plugin versions up to and including 1.3. An attacker can leverage the missing CSRF protections to coerce an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged request that injects malicious JavaScript, resulting in Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery and requires user interaction to trigger the malicious request.
Critical Impact
A successful attack stores attacker-controlled scripts in the WordPress site, executing in the browsers of subsequent visitors and administrators, enabling session theft, account takeover, and site defacement.
Affected Products
- etemplates ECT Social Share plugin for WordPress
- All versions from initial release through 1.3
- WordPress installations using the vulnerable plugin with administrative users
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-12-16 - CVE-2024-54405 published to NVD
- 2026-04-23 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-54405
Vulnerability Analysis
The ECT Social Share plugin exposes administrative actions without validating anti-CSRF tokens (nonces). An attacker hosts a crafted page or sends a link to an authenticated administrator. When the victim visits the attacker-controlled resource, the browser silently submits a forged request to the WordPress site using the victim's active session. The request writes attacker-supplied input into plugin settings that are later rendered without proper output encoding, producing a Stored XSS condition. Because the injected payload persists in the database, every subsequent page load that renders the stored content executes the attacker's script in the victim's browser context.
Root Cause
The root cause is the absence of WordPress nonce verification (wp_verify_nonce / check_admin_referer) on plugin form submissions combined with insufficient sanitization and escaping of user-supplied input before storage and rendering. Two distinct weaknesses chain together: missing state-changing request validation and improper neutralization of script content in HTML output.
Attack Vector
The attack is network-based and requires user interaction. The targeted administrator must visit an attacker-controlled page while authenticated to the vulnerable WordPress site. The forged request modifies plugin configuration, storing JavaScript that subsequently executes whenever the affected page or admin screen is rendered. The scope change reflects the cross-context impact: code stored through one privileged session affects unrelated visitors and administrators.
No verified public proof-of-concept code is available. See the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-54405
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags, event handlers, or obfuscated JavaScript stored in wp_options rows associated with the ect-social-share plugin.
- Outbound HTTP requests from visitor browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after loading pages that render social share widgets.
- WordPress admin sessions originating from referrers outside the site's own domain immediately preceding plugin configuration changes.
Detection Strategies
- Audit WordPress database tables for plugin settings containing HTML or JavaScript content that should be plain text.
- Review web server access logs for POST requests to plugin endpoints lacking a valid _wpnonce parameter.
- Compare current plugin configuration against a known-good baseline after each administrative session.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Enable WordPress audit logging to capture plugin option changes with timestamps and actor identities.
- Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) reporting to surface unexpected inline script execution on public-facing pages.
- Monitor administrator browser sessions for cross-site form submissions targeting /wp-admin/admin.php or /wp-admin/options.php.
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-54405
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the ECT Social Share plugin until a vendor-supplied patch is verified and installed.
- Restore plugin settings from a clean backup taken before any suspected exploitation window.
- Force a password reset and session invalidation for all WordPress administrator accounts.
- Scan rendered pages and stored plugin options for injected scripts and remove malicious payloads.
Patch Information
No fixed version is identified in the available advisory data. The vulnerability affects ECT Social Share through version 1.3. Consult the Patchstack Vulnerability Report for the latest remediation status from the plugin maintainer.
Workarounds
- Remove the plugin from production sites until a patched release is published and verified.
- Restrict /wp-admin/ access by IP allowlist using web server or WAF rules to reduce CSRF exposure.
- Deploy a web application firewall rule that blocks state-changing requests to plugin endpoints without a valid _wpnonce token.
- Enforce a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts to limit Stored XSS execution.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
