CVE-2011-5270

WordPress Core < 3.0.6 - Incorrect Authorization Checks

2011-04-26 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.0.6
Affected Core: WordPress 3.0
Affected Version: < 3.0.6
CVSS: 6.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
CVE: CVE-2011-5270

At a glance

CVE-2011-5270 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress 3.0 WordPress release line, affecting < 3.0.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.0.6; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2011.

Vulnerability Overview

wp-admin/press-this.php in WordPress before 3.0.6 does not enforce the publish_posts capability requirement, which allows remote authenticated users to perform publish actions by leveraging the 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-285: Improper Authorization

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 3.0 < 3.0.6 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 3.0.6: builds < 3.0.6 are affected, anything from 3.0.6 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.0.6, 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 3.0.6 is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-5270 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/64f51991-f767-4f7b-94e7-68c0e2214849 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-5270

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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