CVE-2010-5106

WordPress Core < 3.0.3 - Access Control Bypass

2010-12-08 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.0.3
Affected Core: WordPress 3.0
Affected Version: <= 3.0.2
CVSS: 6.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-284 · Improper Access Control
CVE: CVE-2010-5106

At a glance

CVE-2010-5106 is a medium-severity Improper Access Control vulnerability in the WordPress 3.0 WordPress release line, affecting <= 3.0.2. It carries a CVSS score of 6.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.0.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2010.

Vulnerability Overview

The XML-RPC remote publishing interface in xmlrpc.php in WordPress before 3.0.3 does not properly check capabilities, which allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions, and publish, edit, or delete posts, by leveraging the Author or Contributor role.

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 interaction from a victim user.

CWE-284: Improper Access Control

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 3.0 <= 3.0.2 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper access control means the code decides what a caller may do using something other than their actual permissions, so the decision can be wrong without any check appearing to be missing.

Whoever can shape the request decides the answer, so the protected action runs for callers the code never meant to allow. For WordPress 3.0 the fix is 3.0.3: builds <= 3.0.2 are affected, anything from 3.0.3 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.0.3, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 3.0.3 is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-5106 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/0eff89a8-07b7-49fc-b68d-9efd87fcac3c https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-5106

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 3.0

CVSS Vector

6.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityLow

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