CVE-2019-16250
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2019-16250 is an unauthenticated vulnerability in the Ocean Extra WordPress plugin that allows attackers to modify plugin settings and inject malicious CSS. This affects all WordPress sites running Ocean Extra plugin versions up to 1.5.8. Attackers can exploit this without any authentication or special privileges.
💻 Affected Systems
- Ocean Extra WordPress Plugin
📦 What is this software?
Ocean Extra by Oceanwp
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete site takeover through privilege escalation, defacement via CSS injection, or persistent cross-site scripting attacks leading to credential theft.
Likely Case
Site defacement through CSS injection, unauthorized settings changes affecting site functionality, or injection of malicious scripts.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper web application firewalls are in place and the plugin is not internet-facing.
🎯 Exploit Status
Simple HTTP POST requests can trigger the vulnerability. Public proof-of-concept code exists and is easy to implement.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.5.9 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/ocean-extra/#developers
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins. 3. Find Ocean Extra plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. Alternatively, download version 1.5.9+ from WordPress repository and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Ocean Extra Plugin
allTemporarily disable the vulnerable plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate ocean-extra
Restrict Access to wizard.php
linuxBlock access to the vulnerable file via web server configuration
# Apache: <LocationMatch "includes/wizard/wizard.php">
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
</LocationMatch>
# Nginx: location ~ /includes/wizard/wizard.php { deny all; }
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block requests to /includes/wizard/wizard.php
- Restrict WordPress admin access to trusted IP addresses only
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if Ocean Extra plugin version is 1.5.8 or lower in WordPress admin panel under Plugins → Installed PluginsCheck Version:
wp plugin get ocean-extra --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Ocean Extra plugin version is 1.5.9 or higher in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- POST requests to /wp-content/plugins/ocean-extra/includes/wizard/wizard.php
- Unusual settings changes in Ocean Extra plugin logs
- CSS injection patterns in request payloads
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to wizard.php endpoint from untrusted sources
- Unusual traffic patterns to Ocean Extra plugin files
SIEM Query:
source="web_server" AND (uri_path="*wizard.php" OR user_agent CONTAINS "ocean-extra") AND http_method="POST"