CVE-2024-54412 Overview
CVE-2024-54412 is a Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the ECT Product Carousel WordPress plugin developed by etemplates. The flaw affects all versions of ect-product-carousel up to and including version 1.9. Attackers can chain the CSRF weakness with Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), enabling persistent script injection through authenticated administrator actions. The issue is tracked under CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery.
Critical Impact
An unauthenticated attacker can trick an authenticated administrator into submitting a forged request that stores malicious JavaScript in the WordPress site, leading to persistent XSS execution in any visitor's browser.
Affected Products
- etemplates ECT Product Carousel plugin for WordPress
- All versions from n/a through 1.9
- WordPress sites with the ect-product-carousel plugin installed and active
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-12-16 - CVE-2024-54412 published to the National Vulnerability Database
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-54412
Vulnerability Analysis
The ECT Product Carousel plugin fails to validate the authenticity of state-changing HTTP requests sent to its administrative endpoints. The plugin does not enforce WordPress nonce verification or other anti-CSRF tokens on actions that write data to the database. As a result, an attacker can craft a malicious page or link that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, silently submits a request to the vulnerable plugin.
Because the affected plugin endpoints also fail to sanitize and escape user-supplied input, the forged request can persist attacker-controlled JavaScript into plugin settings or carousel content. Each subsequent page load that renders the stored payload executes the script in the visitor's browser. The combination of CSRF and Stored XSS broadens the attack surface beyond authenticated users to any site visitor.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing CSRF protection on plugin write operations, compounded by inadequate output encoding of stored values. WordPress provides wp_nonce_field() and check_admin_referer() primitives that the plugin does not consistently apply. Stored input is reflected into HTML contexts without escaping through esc_html(), esc_attr(), or equivalent functions.
Attack Vector
Exploitation requires user interaction from a privileged WordPress user, typically an administrator. The attacker hosts a malicious page containing a hidden form or fetch request targeting the vulnerable plugin endpoint. When the administrator visits the page while authenticated to WordPress, the browser automatically sends session cookies, and the forged request is processed as legitimate. The injected XSS payload then executes whenever the affected carousel or settings page is rendered.
No authenticated proof-of-concept code is published for this vulnerability. See the Patchstack WordPress Vulnerability Report for additional technical context.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-54412
Indicators of Compromise
- Unexpected <script> tags, event handlers, or obfuscated JavaScript in ECT Product Carousel settings or post meta entries in the WordPress database
- WordPress access logs showing POST requests to wp-admin/admin.php or plugin-specific endpoints with Referer headers from external domains
- New or modified carousel entries created outside normal administrator activity windows
- Browser console errors or unexpected outbound network requests when administrators load the WordPress dashboard
Detection Strategies
- Audit the wp_options and wp_postmeta tables for the ect-product-carousel plugin keys and grep for <script, onerror=, onload=, and javascript: strings
- Monitor web server logs for state-changing requests to plugin endpoints that lack a same-origin Referer header
- Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers and alert on CSP violation reports indicating inline script execution
Monitoring Recommendations
- Forward WordPress audit logs and web server access logs to a centralized SIEM for correlation against authenticated administrator sessions
- Alert on modifications to plugin configuration tables performed outside expected administrative workflows
- Track installed plugin versions across WordPress fleets and flag any host still running ect-product-carousel version 1.9 or earlier
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-54412
Immediate Actions Required
- Deactivate and remove the ECT Product Carousel plugin until a patched release is confirmed installed
- Inspect carousel settings and database entries for injected scripts and remove any unauthorized content
- Force a password reset and session invalidation for all WordPress administrator accounts
- Restrict /wp-admin access by IP allow-list or VPN where operationally feasible
Patch Information
No fixed version is identified in the available advisory data; the vulnerability affects all releases through version 1.9. Site operators should monitor the Patchstack advisory and the official WordPress plugin repository for an updated release that introduces nonce verification and output escaping.
Workarounds
- Replace ECT Product Carousel with an actively maintained alternative carousel plugin that enforces nonce validation
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF) rule that blocks requests to plugin endpoints lacking a valid WordPress nonce or same-origin Referer
- Apply a strict Content Security Policy that disallows inline scripts (script-src 'self') to limit Stored XSS execution
- Require administrators to use isolated browser profiles for WordPress administration to reduce cross-session CSRF risk
# Example WAF rule snippet (ModSecurity) to block CSRF on plugin endpoint
SecRule REQUEST_URI "@contains /wp-admin/admin.php" \
"chain,phase:2,deny,status:403,id:1054412,msg:'Blocked CSRF to ect-product-carousel'"
SecRule ARGS:page "@streq ect-product-carousel" \
"chain"
SecRule &REQUEST_HEADERS:Referer "@eq 0"
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
