CVE-2024-9193

Critical

Published: 28 February 2025

Published

28 February 2025

Modified

25 March 2025

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.1605 94.8th percentile

Risk Priority 29 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-9193 is a critical-severity PHP Remote File Inclusion (CWE-98) vulnerability in Whmpress Whmcs. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 5.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Directly mitigates CVE-2024-9193 by identifying, reporting, and patching the LFI flaw in the WHMpress plugin's whmpress_domain_search_ajax_extended_results() function.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

prevent

Implements input validation at the vulnerable AJAX endpoint to block arbitrary file paths that enable local file inclusion and PHP code execution.

RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning partial match

detect

Scans systems for vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-9193 in WordPress plugins, enabling detection and prioritization for remediation.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1505.003 Web Shell Persistence

Adversaries may backdoor web servers with web shells to establish persistent access to systems.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

LFI in public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables remote unauthenticated code execution via arbitrary file inclusion (T1190); this facilitates deployment and execution of PHP-based web shells (T1505.003).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

The WHMpress - WHMCS WordPress Integration Plugin plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 6.3-revision-0 via the whmpress_domain_search_ajax_extended_results() function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to include and execute arbitrary…

files on the server, allowing the execution of any PHP code in those files. This can be used to bypass access controls, obtain sensitive data, or achieve code execution in cases where images and other “safe” file types can be uploaded and included. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. Utilizing the /admin/services.php file, this can be leveraged to update the default role for registration to administrator and enable user registration for attackers to gain administrative user access to a vulnerable site.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2024-9193 is a local file inclusion (LFI) vulnerability in the WHMpress - WHMCS WordPress Integration Plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 6.3-revision-0. The issue resides in the whmpress_domain_search_ajax_extended_results() function, which allows unauthenticated attackers to include and execute arbitrary files on the server. This enables PHP code execution from included files, potentially bypassing access controls or accessing sensitive data, particularly when "safe" file types like images can be uploaded and then included.

Unauthenticated attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely with low complexity and no privileges required, as indicated by its CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). Exploitation allows arbitrary PHP code execution, updating of WordPress options, and leveraging the /admin/services.php file to set the default user registration role to administrator while enabling registration. This grants attackers administrative access to the site.

Mitigation details are available in the plugin's change log at https://whmpress.com/docs/change-log/ and Wordfence's threat intelligence advisory at https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/5f3b0e75-d2f0-48b7-ba33-75c4e998030e?source=cve. Security practitioners should review these for patch information and update to a fixed version if available.