CVE-2024-12527
📋 TL;DR
The Perfect Portal Widgets WordPress plugin has a stored cross-site scripting vulnerability that allows authenticated attackers with contributor-level access or higher to inject malicious scripts into website pages. These scripts execute whenever users visit the compromised pages, potentially stealing credentials or performing unauthorized actions. All WordPress sites using this plugin up to version 3.0.3 are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Perfect Portal Widgets WordPress Plugin
⚠️ Manual Verification Required
This CVE does not have specific version information in our database, so automatic vulnerability detection cannot determine if your system is affected.
Why? The CVE database entry doesn't specify which versions are vulnerable (no version ranges provided by the vendor/NVD).
🔒 Custom verification scripts are available for registered users. Sign up free to download automated test scripts.
- Review the CVE details at NVD
- Check vendor security advisories for your specific version
- Test if the vulnerability is exploitable in your environment
- Consider updating to the latest version as a precaution
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could steal administrator credentials, deface websites, redirect users to malicious sites, or perform actions as authenticated users, potentially leading to complete site compromise.
Likely Case
Attackers inject malicious scripts to steal user session cookies or credentials, perform clickjacking, or display fraudulent content to visitors.
If Mitigated
With proper user access controls and content security policies, impact is limited to the specific compromised pages with minimal data exposure.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated access but is straightforward once attacker has contributor privileges. The vulnerability is in the 'perfect_portal_intake_form' shortcode attribute handling.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 3.0.4 or later
Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/3158470/perfect-portal-widgets/trunk/perfect-portal-widgets.php
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel
2. Navigate to Plugins → Installed Plugins
3. Find 'Perfect Portal Widgets'
4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available
5. If no update appears, manually download version 3.0.4+ from WordPress.org
6. Deactivate, delete old version, upload and activate new version
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Remove Contributor Access
allTemporarily remove contributor-level access for untrusted users until patch is applied
Disable Plugin
allDeactivate the Perfect Portal Widgets plugin if not essential
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict script execution
- Regularly audit user accounts and remove unnecessary contributor-level access
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress admin panel → Plugins → Perfect Portal Widgets → Version number. If version is 3.0.3 or lower, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
wp plugin list --name=perfect-portal-widgets --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
After updating, verify plugin version shows 3.0.4 or higher in WordPress admin plugins page.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php with perfect_portal_intake_form parameters
- Multiple failed login attempts followed by successful contributor-level login
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected script tags in page responses containing perfect_portal_intake_form attributes
- External script loads from unexpected domains on pages using the plugin
SIEM Query:
source="wordpress.log" AND ("perfect_portal_intake_form" OR "perfect-portal-widgets") AND (status=200 OR status=302)