CVE-2024-5221Discovered Published
Qi Blocks XSS via uploader
View patch bundle on GitHubFull published report
The reviewed summary below describes the scope of the fixture testing.
Qi Blocks XSS via uploader (CVE-2024-5221)
cve.now entry. Product: Qi Blocks WordPress
plugin (lab: gabriel-qiblocks-app).
Eden terminates the HTTP connection to the affected product, evaluates a declarative policy and — in tier 2 — a separately compiled native Rust module under signed module authority, before any byte reaches the application. It does not patch the affected component; the vendor's fixed release remains the durable repair.
Status: Remediated (tier 1 + tier 2), live-proven 2026-11-11T16:47:56Z on the
installed eden-product-release:1.103.0 lab container.
The vulnerability
The Qi Blocks uploader renders a caller-supplied content field unescaped,
persisting markup. The fixture (make_qiblocks) reproduces the shape: an
upload whose content carries a raw angle-bracket tag (<x>) records a
stored-XSS mark.
The Eden patch
Tier 1 — declarative policy (blunt, fail-closed): deny every request under
/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, ordinary block uploads included — false positives
measured below.
Tier 2 — native Rust module gabriel_qiblocks_v1 (surgical): refuses
upload bodies carrying raw angle-bracket markers (<x>); ordinary block
content passes unchanged.
Measured comparison (fixtures9, run 2026-11-11)
| Probe | Baseline | Tier 1 | Tier 2 (module) | Backend effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
benign block upload {"content":"text"} | 200 | 403 (false positive) | 200 | none |
attack: raw markup {"content":"<x>"} | 200 (xss_stored3 recorded) | 403 | 403 | blocked at tier 2 |
Performance trace (Eden telemetry, live 2026-11-11)
Measured with Eden's built-in request telemetry (gateway.request.baseline
spans, read back through /api/v1/analytics/telemetry?signal=traces), not
client wall-clock. Latency Eden introduces per remediation arm for this case:
| Arm | n | mean | p50 | p95 | min–max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — declarative policy, blocked request (403) | 15 | 28 µs | 24 µs | 47 µs | 18 µs–47 µs |
| Tier 2 — native module, benign passes through (200) | 20 | 372 µs | 352 µs | 692 µs | 291 µs–692 µs |
| Tier 2 — native module, attack refused (403) | 14 | 154 µs | 152 µs | 239 µs | 115 µs–239 µs |
Eden-added latency for the tier-2 remediation: benign requests complete in 372 µs mean (p50 352 µs, p95 692 µs) in-product, module evaluation included. Honest scope: lab fixtures on one host, fresh connection per measured request, warm requests only; module reactivated shards 2/2 with a fresh signed statement per measurement; spans carry the full authority lineage (module SHA-256, operation, publication). Not the EDEN-3640 performance qualification contract.
Tested against: eden-product-release:1.103.0-single (image sha256:809293e1f0b525ac…, build target
eden_service_single, tooling revision 81a0724a…). Raw data:
module2/telemetry-ab/qiblocks-telemetry.json and module2/tier1-ab/qiblocks-tier1.json.
Authority lifecycle and negatives
Import 201, activation: explicit_required; publisher enroll_key, host
inventory + approve, reader inspect refused 403; tampered-statement admit
400; invalid-signature admit 403; admit prepared (not serving), activate
→ receipt serving_now, applied shards 2/2. Revoke → the identical attack
gets 503 (fail-closed); re-approve + re-activate → 403 again. All recorded
in the evidence JSON.
Honest scope
The fixture reproduces the unescaped-content shape, not the full plugin
surface. Bypass variants (alternate tags, attribute injection) are not
bypass-tested; the rule is a lab-grade partial. Module binary SHA-256
6cd36d45…, source modules/gabriel_qiblocks_v1.rs.
Cost record
Run window 16:47:56Z → 16:48:05Z (per-CVE ledger, marginal session cost).
Evidence appendix
- Fixture:
gabriel-2026-11-11/fixtures9.py(make_qiblocks, port 18306) - Evidence:
gabriel-2026-11-11/module2/evidence/qiblocks-module.json - Module source:
docs/case-studies/modules/gabriel_qiblocks_v1.rs
The vulnerability
The Qi Blocks uploader renders a caller-supplied content field unescaped,
persisting markup. The fixture (make_qiblocks) reproduces the shape: an
upload whose content carries a raw angle-bracket tag (<x>) records a
stored-XSS mark.
The Eden patch
Tier 1 — declarative policy (blunt, fail-closed): deny every request under
/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, ordinary block uploads included — false positives
measured below.
Tier 2 — native Rust module gabriel_qiblocks_v1 (surgical): refuses
upload bodies carrying raw angle-bracket markers (<x>); ordinary block
content passes unchanged.
Measured comparison (fixtures9, run 2026-11-11)
| Probe | Baseline | Tier 1 | Tier 2 (module) | Backend effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
benign block upload {"content":"text"} | 200 | 403 (false positive) | 200 | none |
attack: raw markup {"content":"<x>"} | 200 (xss_stored3 recorded) | 403 | 403 | blocked at tier 2 |
Performance trace (Eden telemetry, live 2026-11-11)
Measured with Eden's built-in request telemetry (gateway.request.baseline
spans, read back through /api/v1/analytics/telemetry?signal=traces), not
client wall-clock. Latency Eden introduces per remediation arm for this case:
| Arm | n | mean | p50 | p95 | min–max |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 — declarative policy, blocked request (403) | 15 | 28 µs | 24 µs | 47 µs | 18 µs–47 µs |
| Tier 2 — native module, benign passes through (200) | 20 | 372 µs | 352 µs | 692 µs | 291 µs–692 µs |
| Tier 2 — native module, attack refused (403) | 14 | 154 µs | 152 µs | 239 µs | 115 µs–239 µs |
Authority lifecycle and negatives
Import 201, activation: explicit_required; publisher enroll_key, host
inventory + approve, reader inspect refused 403; tampered-statement admit
400; invalid-signature admit 403; admit prepared (not serving), activate
→ receipt serving_now, applied shards 2/2. Revoke → the identical attack
gets 503 (fail-closed); re-approve + re-activate → 403 again. All recorded
in the evidence JSON.
Honest scope
The fixture reproduces the unescaped-content shape, not the full plugin
surface. Bypass variants (alternate tags, attribute injection) are not
bypass-tested; the rule is a lab-grade partial. Module binary SHA-256
6cd36d45…, source modules/gabriel_qiblocks_v1.rs.
Cost record
Run window 16:47:56Z → 16:48:05Z (per-CVE ledger, marginal session cost).