Prototype Pollution: A Deep-Dive

According to Gartner, 75% of the attacks are coming though web applications and not through the network. This means greater emphasis needs to be placed on application security. However, this does not appear to be happening.

JFrog researchers show how CVSS overstates risk using JavaScript prototype pollution as a case study — Axios gadget chains included — after reassessing 96% of NVD criticals as lower severity.

CVE-2024-37888 is an XSS in CKEditor 4's Open Link plugin that lets crafted hyperlinks execute JavaScript in a victim's browser. Found during a client engagement, it affects latest plugin versions.

Demonstrates turning self-XSS into real attacks, such as payloads that fire when admins view a user's profile, and suggests logging callbacks to prove impact when reporting these findings.

This research provides technical context that security teams can use for monitoring and validation.

Affects all WordPress installations from version 4.7.0 through 7.1.0 without requiring credentials or interaction beyond opening a post. Administrators should verify upgrading to 7.1.1 or backported releases, and monitor server logs for suspicious comment payloads and unexpected plugin uploads.