CVE-2013-2204

WordPress Core <= 3.5.1 - Content-Spoofing Attacks

2013-06-21 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.5.2
Affected Core: WordPress 3.5
Affected Version: <= 3.5.1
CVSS: 4.6Medium
Weakness type: CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation
CVE: CVE-2013-2204

At a glance

CVE-2013-2204 is a medium-severity Improper Input Validation vulnerability in the WordPress 3.5 WordPress release line, affecting <= 3.5.1. It carries a CVSS score of 4.6 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.5.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2013, reported by Wan Ikram.

Vulnerability Overview

moxieplayer.as in Moxiecode moxieplayer, as used in the TinyMCE Media plugin in WordPress before 3.5.2 and other products, does not consider the presence of a # (pound sign) character during extraction of the QUERY_STRING, which allows remote attackers to pass arbitrary parameters to a Flash application, and conduct content-spoofing attacks, via a crafted string after a ? (question mark) character.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.

CWE-20: Improper Input Validation

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 3.5 <= 3.5.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper input validation means the application accepts input without confirming it has the form, type or range the code downstream assumes.

The concrete impact depends on where the unvalidated value lands, which is why records in this class range from cosmetic bugs to full compromise. For WordPress 3.5 the fix is 3.5.2: builds <= 3.5.1 are affected, anything from 3.5.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.5.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WordPress 3.5: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 3.5.2 is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-2204 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/7e42954c-1ae3-41ef-8dd3-16e5820aa36f https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-2204

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 3.5

CVSS Vector

4.6

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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