Horizon Alert
Summary of the vulnerability and why it matters
This critical vulnerability affects the WP Events Manager WordPress plugin, potentially allowing unauthorized users to register for paid events without payment. The core issue lies in how the plugin handles event registration quantities, which could lead to financial discrepancies if exploited. Leaders should be aware of this to ensure their organizations' websites remain secure and financially sound.
- Unpaid event registrations are possible.
- Protects against financial loss from event bookings.
- Confirm relevance and assess exposure.
Attack Path
How an attacker could exploit the issue
An attacker can exploit this by first registering for a paid event within the WP Events Manager plugin. Because the plugin doesn't properly check the number of tickets requested, the attacker can submit an arbitrarily large number, leading the system to calculate a price based on this manipulated quantity. This allows the attacker to effectively register for the event without any payment, potentially leading to unauthorized access or services.
- Any authenticated user can trigger.
- Registering for paid events with custom quantity.
- Free event registration and unauthorized access.
Live Threat
Current exploitation, exposure, and threat context
When supported by the advisory, an authenticated user could exploit this vulnerability to create completed bookings for paid events without payment. This occurs because the system computes the price based on an attacker-controlled quantity, bypassing the payment requirement.
- Paid event bookings.
- Unpaid bookings created via quantity manipulation.
- Revenue loss from unpaid bookings.
Operational Fix
Recommended remediation, mitigation, and detection steps
The WP Events Manager plugin's vulnerability in handling paid event registrations requires immediate attention from the application or website owner responsible for the WordPress instance. The first step is to identify all instances of the affected plugin, confirm whether these instances are exposed to the internet and are critical to business operations, and then assign ownership for remediation.
- Website owners should own the issue.
- Verify internet-facing instances and criticality.
- Plan remediation based on identified risk.
