CVE-2022-2233 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability affecting the Banner Cycler plugin for WordPress, developed by jkriddle. This vulnerability exists in all versions up to and including 1.4 of the plugin. The root cause is the absence of nonce protection in the pabc_admin_slides_postback() function located in the ~/admin/admin.php file. Nonces are security tokens used to verify that requests originate from legitimate users and not from malicious third-party sites. Without this protection, an attacker can craft a malicious web request that, if an authenticated administrator is tricked into clicking a link or visiting a specially crafted page, causes unauthorized actions to be performed on the WordPress site. These actions can include injecting malicious scripts or modifying banner content, potentially leading to further compromise such as persistent cross-site scripting (XSS), defacement, or redirection to malicious sites. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely without authentication (AV:N/PR:N), requiring only user interaction (UI:R) from an administrator. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 8.8, reflecting high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Although no known exploits are reported in the wild, the ease of exploitation combined with the high privileges of the targeted user (administrator) makes this a critical risk for affected WordPress sites using this plugin. The vulnerability was publicly disclosed on September 6, 2022, and is tracked under CWE-352 (Cross-Site Request Forgery). No official patches or updates are linked in the provided information, indicating that site administrators must take proactive measures to mitigate the risk.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant threat, especially those relying on WordPress sites with the Banner Cycler plugin installed. Successful exploitation can lead to unauthorized administrative actions, including injecting malicious content that compromises site integrity and user trust. This can result in data breaches, defacement, or the distribution of malware to site visitors. Organizations in sectors such as e-commerce, government, education, and media, which often use WordPress for public-facing websites, may suffer reputational damage and regulatory consequences under GDPR if personal data is exposed or manipulated. The vulnerability’s ability to be exploited remotely without authentication increases the attack surface, making it attractive for threat actors targeting European entities. Additionally, the potential for persistent XSS or other script injections could facilitate further attacks such as session hijacking or phishing campaigns targeting European users. The lack of known exploits in the wild suggests that proactive mitigation can prevent exploitation, but the high CVSS score underscores the urgency of addressing this vulnerability to avoid severe operational and security impacts.

European organizations should immediately audit their WordPress installations to identify the presence of the Banner Cycler plugin, particularly versions up to 1.4. If the plugin is in use, administrators should disable or remove it until a secure, patched version is available. In the absence of an official patch, organizations can implement temporary mitigations such as applying Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to detect and block suspicious POST requests targeting the vulnerable admin.php endpoint. Additionally, enforcing strict Content Security Policies (CSP) can help mitigate the impact of injected scripts. Administrators should also educate site users, especially those with administrative privileges, about the risks of clicking untrusted links. Monitoring web server logs for unusual POST requests or changes to banner content can help detect exploitation attempts. Finally, organizations should subscribe to vendor and security mailing lists to receive updates on patches or new mitigations and plan for timely plugin updates once available.