CVE-2022-0142
📋 TL;DR
The Visual Form Builder WordPress plugin before version 3.0.8 is vulnerable to CSV injection, allowing low-privileged or unauthenticated users to inject malicious commands into exported CSV files. This can lead to code execution when the CSV is opened in vulnerable spreadsheet applications like Excel, potentially compromising the WordPress site and underlying server. All WordPress sites using the affected plugin versions are at risk.
💻 Affected Systems
- Visual Form Builder WordPress plugin
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
An attacker gains remote code execution on the WordPress server, leading to full system compromise, data theft, or ransomware deployment.
Likely Case
Malicious commands execute on a user's local machine when opening the CSV, causing local file corruption, data exfiltration, or further malware installation.
If Mitigated
If CSV files are handled securely (e.g., opened in sandboxed applications), impact is limited to data manipulation or denial of service via corrupted exports.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is straightforward via form submissions; weaponization is likely due to public PoCs and low complexity.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 3.0.8
Vendor Advisory: https://wordpress.org/plugins/visual-form-builder/#developers
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find Visual Form Builder and update to version 3.0.8 or later. 4. Verify update completes successfully.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable CSV Export Feature
allTemporarily disable the CSV export functionality in the plugin settings to prevent exploitation.
Restrict Form Access
allLimit form submissions to authenticated users only via WordPress roles or security plugins.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Uninstall the Visual Form Builder plugin and replace it with a secure alternative.
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) rules to block malicious CSV payloads in form submissions.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check the plugin version in WordPress admin under Plugins > Installed Plugins; if version is below 3.0.8, it is vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin list --name=visual-form-builder --field=version (if WP-CLI is installed)Verify Fix Applied:
After updating, confirm the plugin version is 3.0.8 or higher in the same location.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual form submissions with CSV injection payloads (e.g., strings starting with =, +, -) in WordPress or web server logs.
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST requests to form endpoints containing malicious CSV payloads in parameters.
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND (payload="=cmd|'" OR payload="+cmd|'" OR payload="-cmd|'")