CVE-2022-1801
📋 TL;DR
The Very Simple Contact Form WordPress plugin before version 11.6 exposes CAPTCHA solutions in rendered contact forms, allowing bots to easily bypass spam protection. This affects WordPress sites using vulnerable versions of the plugin, making contact forms vulnerable to automated spam submissions.
💻 Affected Systems
- Very Simple Contact Form WordPress Plugin
📦 What is this software?
Very Simple Contact Form by Very Simple Contact Form Project
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Contact forms become completely ineffective against spam bots, leading to massive spam submissions, potential data loss from legitimate submissions being buried, and possible reputation damage.
Likely Case
Significant increase in spam submissions through contact forms, overwhelming site administrators and potentially interfering with legitimate user communications.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper monitoring and alternative spam filtering mechanisms in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation is trivial as the CAPTCHA solution is exposed in plain text in the HTML source. No authentication required.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 11.6
Vendor Advisory: https://wpscan.com/vulnerability/a5c97809-2ffc-4efb-8c80-1b734361cd06
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Very Simple Contact Form'. 4. Click 'Update Now' if available. 5. If no update button, download version 11.6+ from WordPress repository and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allTemporarily disable the Very Simple Contact Form plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate very-simple-contact-form
Implement alternative CAPTCHA
allReplace with alternative contact form plugin that uses secure CAPTCHA implementation
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement server-side spam filtering for contact form submissions
- Monitor contact form submissions for unusual patterns and implement rate limiting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check plugin version in WordPress admin panel under Plugins > Installed Plugins. If version is below 11.6, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin get very-simple-contact-form --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 11.6 or higher and inspect contact form page source to ensure CAPTCHA solution is no longer exposed.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual spike in contact form submissions
- Patterns of automated form submissions
Network Indicators:
- Increased traffic to contact form endpoints
- Automated POST requests to contact form handler
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress" AND (event="contact_form_submission" AND count > threshold) OR (http_user_agent CONTAINS "bot" AND uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php")