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Ajax SearchWordPress extension · Wp Dreams

CVE-2024-21752

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-02-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.11.5 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Ernest Marcinko Ajax Search Lite allows Reflected XSS.This issue affects Ajax Search Lite: from n/a through 4.11.4.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A CSRF vulnerability in the Ajax Search Lite WordPress plugin (versions up to 4.11.4) enables attackers to craft malicious links that, when clicked by authenticated administrators, execute arbitrary JavaScript through reflected XSS. The lack of proper nonce validation on form actions allows attackers to trigger unintended state-changing requests that also reflect unsanitized input back to the user.

MitigationUpdate Ajax Search Lite to the latest version which implements proper CSRF token validation on all form submissions and ensures all user-supplied input is properly escaped before output.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ajax SearchWordPress extension
Affected:< 4.11.5

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if Ajax Search Lite plugin is installed
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and look for 'Ajax Search Lite' or check the plugins directory for wp-content/plugins/ajax-search-lite/
    Affected if Plugin is present in the WordPress installation
  2. Identify the installed version of Ajax Search Lite
    In WordPress admin Plugins page, find Ajax Search Lite and view the version number under the plugin name, or check the main plugin file header in wp-content/plugins/ajax-search-lite/ajax-search-lite.php for the Version field
    Affected if Version is 4.11.4 or below (less than 4.11.5)
  3. Confirm the search widget is active on the site
    Visit the website frontend and look for any search bar powered by Ajax Search Lite, or check Appearance > Widgets for an active 'Ajax Search Lite' widget
    Affected if The search functionality is publicly accessible and in use
  4. Verify if admin actions lack CSRF protection
    Inspect the plugin's form submission code or attempt a test: create a search form submission without a nonce token in the request parameters using browser developer tools
    Affected if Forms submit without requiring a valid CSRF token (nonce)

The environment is affected if Ajax Search Lite version 4.11.4 or lower is installed and active on the WordPress site, allowing unauthenticated attackers to trick administrators into executing malicious JavaScript via crafted links.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.11.5 or later
Fixed in 4.11.5
Interim mitigation

Update Ajax Search Lite to the latest version which implements proper CSRF token validation on all form submissions and ensures all user-supplied input is properly escaped before output.

Recommended fix High confidence

4.11.5

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Plugins > Installed Plugins
  3. Locate Ajax Search Lite in the plugin list
  4. Click 'Update now' if an update is available, or manually update to version 4.11.5
  5. Verify the plugin version shows 4.11.5 after update
  6. Test the Ajax search functionality to ensure it works correctly

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ajax Search Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-21752 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data