CVE-2008-6762

WordPress Core < 2.8.1 - Open Redirect

2008-12-22 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.8.1
Affected Core: WordPress 2.8
Affected Version: < 2.8.1
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-601 · URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')
CVE: CVE-2008-6762

At a glance

CVE-2008-6762 is a medium-severity URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect') vulnerability in the WordPress 2.8 WordPress release line, affecting < 2.8.1. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.8.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2008, reported by Jesus Olmos Gonzalez.

Vulnerability Overview

Open redirect vulnerability in wp-admin/upgrade.php in WordPress, probably 2.6.x, allows remote attackers to redirect users to arbitrary web sites and conduct phishing attacks via a URL in the backto parameter.

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.

CWE-601: URL Redirection to Untrusted Site ('Open Redirect')

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 2.8 < 2.8.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An open redirect is a page that takes a destination from the request and sends the browser there without checking that the destination belongs to the site.

A link that starts on a trusted domain finishes on an attacker's, which is what makes phishing and consent-screen abuse credible to the person clicking it. For WordPress 2.8 the fix is 2.8.1: builds < 2.8.1 are affected, anything from 2.8.1 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.8.1, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WordPress 2.8: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 2.8.1 is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-6762 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/cb072bfa-991a-4839-996d-fdc803427076 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-6762

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 2.8

CVSS Vector

6.1

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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