CVE-2024-8943 Scanner

The LatePoint plugin for WordPress is a popular appointment scheduling tool used by businesses and organizations worldwide. It is commonly integrated into WordPress sites to streamline appointment bookings and enhance customer interactions. Widely adopted by small to medium businesses, LatePoint allows seamless integration with calendar systems and payment gateways. The plugin is predominantly used in industries such as healthcare, wellness, and beauty to manage scheduling effectively. Employing LatePoint on a WordPress site simplifies booking processes, thus improving efficiency and end-user experience. Due to its widespread use, vulnerabilities within the plugin can significantly impact numerous businesses relying on it for scheduling operations.

An authentication bypass vulnerability exists in the LatePoint plugin for WordPress versions up to 5.0.12, posing a serious security risk. This vulnerability is caused by insufficient verification of users during the booking process, allowing attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms. Exploitation of this flaw can occur by leveraging access to valid user IDs and manipulations of authenticated session keys. Attackers exploiting the issue can gain unauthorized access, impersonate users, and perform actions on behalf of legitimate accounts. The vulnerability takes advantage of the "Use WordPress users as customers" setting, often enabled in default configurations. This severe security concern necessitates immediate remediation to prevent unauthorized access.

The technical details of the vulnerability involve exploiting the user authentication logic within the LatePoint plugin. Attackers can craft specific HTTP requests using publicly accessible endpoints, such as wp-json/wp/v2/users, to retrieve user IDs. Once an ID is obtained, the vulnerability allows an unauthenticated party to initiate a login session as a victim user by directly interacting with the backend endpoints. Specifically, the misuse of the admin-ajax.php script aids in bypassing authorization protocols, thus triggering unauthorized sessions. This exploitation demands attackers to have a basic understanding of WordPress's REST API and its response structure. Such vulnerabilities highlight the critical need for thorough input validation in authentication processes.

Exploitation of this authentication bypass can result in several adverse outcomes for affected systems. Primarily, attackers could leverage unauthorized access to perform privileged actions typically restricted to authenticated users. This may lead to data theft, corruption, or unauthorized changes to configurations and settings. Furthermore, in cases where administrative access is obtained, attackers might alter bookings, manipulate records, and exfiltrate sensitive information, leading to reputational damage and financial losses. The potential for full site compromise underscores the importance of immediate patching and increasing awareness among site administrators and security teams.

REFERENCES

• https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/wordpress-plugins/LatePoint/latepoint-5012-authentication-bypass
• https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2024/10/7000-wordpress-sites-affected-by-unauthenticated-critical-vulnerabilities-in-latepoint-wordpress-plugin/
• https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-8943