CVE-2015-5715

WordPress Core < 4.3.1 - Authorization Bypass to Information Disclosure

2015-09-15 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.7.11
Affected Core: WordPress 4.3
Affected Version: 3.7 – 4.3 · 8 branches
CVSS: 5.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-200 · Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CVE: CVE-2015-5715

At a glance

CVE-2015-5715 is a medium-severity Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerability in the WordPress 4.3 WordPress release line, affecting 3.7 – 4.3 · 8 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.7.11; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2015, reported by Shahar Tal.

Vulnerability Overview

The mw_editPost function in wp-includes/class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php in the XMLRPC subsystem in WordPress before 4.3.1 allows remote authenticated users to bypass intended access restrictions, and arrange for a private post to be published and sticky, via unspecified vectors.

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-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 4.3 3.7 – 4.3 · 8 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 4.3 the fix is 3.7.11: builds 3.7 – 4.3 · 8 branches are affected, anything from 3.7.11 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.7.11, 3.8.11, 3.9.9, 4.0.8, 4.1.8, 4.2.5, 4.3.1

How does WordSec protect against this?

The fix is the thing that ends this: updating to 3.7.11 is the step that ends it.

Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5715 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3a71b8da-73dd-488e-b553-77116731f13f https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5715

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 4.3

CVSS Vector

5.4

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

Base

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

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