CVE-2024-7617 Overview
CVE-2024-7617 is a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Contact Form to Any API plugin for WordPress, developed by itpathsolutions. All versions up to and including 1.2.4 fail to properly sanitize input and escape output when rendering Contact Form 7 form field data. Unauthenticated attackers can submit crafted payloads through affected forms that persist in the database. When an administrator or authorized user later views the entries in the WordPress admin panel, the injected JavaScript executes in their browser session. The vulnerability is tracked under CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation.
Critical Impact
Unauthenticated attackers can inject persistent JavaScript payloads that execute in the browser of any user viewing stored form entries, enabling session theft, admin account takeover, or backdoor injection.
Affected Products
- Contact Form to Any API plugin for WordPress — all versions up to and including 1.2.4
- Vendor: itpathsolutions
- Deployment environment: WordPress sites using Contact Form 7 integration
Discovery Timeline
- 2024-09-25 - CVE-2024-7617 published to NVD
- 2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database
Technical Details for CVE-2024-7617
Vulnerability Analysis
The plugin acts as a bridge between Contact Form 7 submissions and external APIs, storing each submission as an entry viewable through the WordPress admin interface. The administrative entries view rendered by admin/partials/cf7-to-any-api-admin-entries.php writes submitted field values directly into the page markup without applying escaping functions such as esc_html() or esc_attr().
Because form submission is unauthenticated by design, an attacker only needs to locate a public form on a vulnerable site and submit a payload containing script content. The payload persists as a stored entry. Execution occurs later, out-of-band, when a logged-in user opens the entries page in wp-admin.
This produces a scope change: the injected script runs in the privileged admin origin despite originating from an unauthenticated request. Post-exploitation actions include stealing authentication cookies, creating rogue administrator accounts through the REST API, or planting persistent backdoors in theme or plugin files.
Root Cause
The root cause is missing input sanitization on form submission and missing output escaping on entry display. Submitted values pass through the storage layer untouched, and the admin entries template concatenates them into HTML without contextual encoding.
Attack Vector
Attack traffic reaches the target over the network with no authentication requirement. Exploitation requires an authorized user to subsequently load the admin entries screen, satisfying the user-interaction condition in the CVSS vector. See the Wordfence Vulnerability Report and the vulnerable plugin source for technical detail.
Detection Methods for CVE-2024-7617
Indicators of Compromise
- Contact Form 7 submissions containing HTML tags such as <script>, <img onerror=, <svg onload=, or javascript: URIs in stored entries.
- Unexpected administrator accounts, new plugin installs, or modifications to theme files following admin visits to the plugin's entries page.
- Outbound HTTP requests from admin browsers to unfamiliar domains shortly after opening the wp-admin entries view.
Detection Strategies
- Query the WordPress database for entries created by the plugin that contain script-tag substrings or HTML event handlers in field values.
- Review web server access logs for POST requests to Contact Form 7 endpoints containing URL-encoded <script> or onerror= payloads.
- Compare installed plugin version against 1.2.4 across WordPress fleets and flag any installation at or below that version.
Monitoring Recommendations
- Alert on newly created WordPress administrator accounts and role changes for existing users.
- Monitor changes to files under wp-content/plugins/ and wp-content/themes/ that are not associated with a legitimate update.
- Log and review outbound network connections from browsers used to manage WordPress instances.
How to Mitigate CVE-2024-7617
Immediate Actions Required
- Update the Contact Form to Any API plugin to the latest version available above 1.2.4 on every affected WordPress site.
- Audit stored plugin entries for injected script content and purge any malicious submissions before an administrator opens the entries page.
- Rotate credentials for all WordPress administrator accounts and invalidate active sessions if the entries view was accessed while the vulnerable version was installed.
Patch Information
The vendor addressed the issue in a code change tracked as WordPress plugin changeset 3158253, which introduces proper escaping in the administrative rendering path. Refer to the Wordfence advisory for the fixed version reference.
Workarounds
- Deactivate and remove the Contact Form to Any API plugin until it can be updated to a patched release.
- Restrict access to /wp-admin/ using IP allowlisting or an authentication proxy so that stored payloads cannot fire in an admin context from untrusted networks.
- Deploy a Web Application Firewall rule that blocks form submissions containing script tags or JavaScript event handlers in field parameters.
Disclaimer: This content was generated using AI. While we strive for accuracy, please verify critical information with official sources.
