CVE-2024-9706
📋 TL;DR
The Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance WordPress plugin has an authentication bypass vulnerability that allows unauthenticated attackers to change the template used for the coming soon/maintenance page. This affects all versions up to and including 1.0.9. WordPress sites using this plugin are vulnerable if the plugin is active.
💻 Affected Systems
- Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance WordPress plugin
📦 What is this software?
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers could replace the coming soon page with malicious content, potentially leading to phishing attacks, malware distribution, or defacement that damages brand reputation.
Likely Case
Attackers change the template to display inappropriate content, redirect visitors to malicious sites, or disrupt legitimate site maintenance operations.
If Mitigated
If proper monitoring is in place, unauthorized template changes would be detected quickly and reverted with minimal impact.
🎯 Exploit Status
Simple HTTP POST request to vulnerable endpoint. Public exploit code is available in security advisories.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 1.1.0
Vendor Advisory: https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/ultimate-coming-soon/trunk/backend/tabs-content/templates/frontend-part/display-template.php
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
1. Log into WordPress admin panel. 2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Find 'Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance' plugin. 4. Click 'Update Now' if update is available. 5. Alternatively, download version 1.1.0+ from WordPress plugin repository and manually update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable plugin
allTemporarily deactivate the Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance plugin until patched
wp plugin deactivate ultimate-coming-soon
Web Application Firewall rule
allBlock requests to the vulnerable endpoint
Block POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=ucsm_activate_lite_template_lite
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Disable the Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance plugin immediately
- Implement strict web application firewall rules to block unauthorized access to admin-ajax.php endpoints
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check WordPress plugin version: Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins and verify Ultimate Coming Soon & Maintenance version is 1.0.9 or lowerCheck Version:
wp plugin list --name='ultimate-coming-soon' --field=versionVerify Fix Applied:
Verify plugin version is 1.1.0 or higher in WordPress admin panel📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- POST requests to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=ucsm_activate_lite_template_lite
- Unauthorized template changes in plugin settings
Network Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests to WordPress admin-ajax.php from unauthenticated sources
SIEM Query:
source="web_server" AND uri="/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php" AND method="POST" AND params.action="ucsm_activate_lite_template_lite" AND user="-"