CVE-2011-0701

WordPress Core < 3.0.5 - Improper Authorization to Information Disclosure

2011-02-07 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.0.5
Affected Core: WordPress 3.0
Affected Version: <= 3.0.4
CVSS: 4.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
CVE: CVE-2011-0701

At a glance

CVE-2011-0701 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress 3.0 WordPress release line, affecting <= 3.0.4. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.0.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2011.

Vulnerability Overview

wp-admin/async-upload.php in the media uploader in WordPress before 3.0.5 allows remote authenticated users to read (1) draft posts or (2) private posts via a modified attachment_id 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 interaction from a victim user.

CWE-285: Improper Authorization

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 3.0 <= 3.0.4 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authorization means a permission check exists but does not cover the case being exercised, so a caller who is allowed to do one thing is allowed to do a neighbouring thing as well.

A lower-privileged account performs an action reserved for a higher one, which on a multi-author or membership site means an ordinary user reaching administrative behaviour. For WordPress 3.0 the fix is 3.0.5: builds <= 3.0.4 are affected, anything from 3.0.5 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.0.5, 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 3.0.5 is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-0701 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/2761c5e9-7c4c-4257-9b55-587c02d07153 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-0701

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 3.0

CVSS Vector

4.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

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