CVE-2011-3818

WordPress Core 2.9.2 and 3.0.4 - Sensitive Information Disclosure

2011-01-28 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.0
Affected Core: WordPress 3.0
Affected Version: 2.9.2 – 3.0.4 · 2 branches
CVSS: 7.5High
Weakness type: CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CVE: CVE-2011-3818

At a glance

CVE-2011-3818 is a high-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in the WordPress 3.0 WordPress release line, affecting 2.9.2 – 3.0.4 · 2 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2011.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress 2.9.2 and 3.0.4 allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via a direct request to a .php file, which reveals the installation path in an error message, as demonstrated by wp-admin/includes/user.php and certain other files.

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.

CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 3.0 2.9.2 – 3.0.4 · 2 branches takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Sensitive information exposure means data the application intended to keep internal is returned to a caller who should not be able to see it.

The disclosed data — credentials, tokens, customer records or internal paths — is usually worth more as material for a follow-up attack than as an end in itself. For WordPress 3.0 the fix is 3.0: builds 2.9.2 – 3.0.4 · 2 branches are affected, anything from 3.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.0, 3.0.5

How does WordSec protect against this?

The fix is the thing that ends this: updating to 3.0 is the step that ends it.

Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-3818 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3f389cbf-a327-46a1-9fb7-ed393212033a https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-3818

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 3.0

CVSS Vector

7.5

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

This record contains material that is subject to copyright

CVE Usage: MITRE hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®). Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse

Defiant hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute this software vulnerability information. Any copy of the software vulnerability information you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you include a hyperlink to this vulnerability record and reproduce Defiant's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/