WPTF Hybrid Composer – Unauthenticated Arbitrary Options Update

With almost 300 installs, WPTF – Hybrid Composer is a framework that helps users easily create custom themes for WordPress. We recently noticed an increase in suspicious requests, revealing an attack against this plugin.

Easily automated vulnerabilities are the first choice for bad actors. The following snippet provides a good example why attackers would target it:

function hc_ajax_save_option() {
    echo update_option($_POST['option_name'], $_POST['content']);
    die();
}

add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_hc_ajax_save_option', 'hc_ajax_save_option');

The function “hc_ajax_save_option” uses the WordPress update_option(), along with two parameters that come directly from user input. Because the developers define “hc_ajax_save_option” as a non-private hook action, unauthenticated bad actors can obtain full access.

For those who doesn’t know, WordPress’ update_option() function is used to update any option in the options database table. Using this function, an attacker can gain admin access or inject arbitrary data into any site using vulnerable versions of this framework, 1.4.6 and lower.

The developer is aware of this vulnerability. This vulnerability was patched in a recent update, and we strongly encourage users to update their plugin if they haven’t already.