CVE-2003-1599

WordPress Core <= 0.70 - Remote File Inclusion

2003-06-09 00:00
Anonymous

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 0.71
Affected Core
WordPress 0.70
Affected Version
<= 0.70
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE
CVE-2003-1599
View all WordPress 0.70 vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2003-1599 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the WordPress 0.70 WordPress release line, affecting <= 0.70. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 0.71; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2003.

Vulnerability Overview

PHP remote file inclusion vulnerability in wp-links/links.all.php in WordPress 0.70 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary PHP code via a URL in the $abspath variable.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 0.70 <= 0.70 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For WordPress 0.70 the fix is 0.71: builds <= 0.70 are affected, anything from 0.71 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.71, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WordPress 0.70: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 0.71 is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1599https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/da760bcf-b252-4b88-9f54-af0a097e3295https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1599

Related records

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