CVE-2012-5868

WordPress Core < 4.0 - Missing Session Cookie Expiration

2012-12-27 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.0
Affected Core: WordPress 4.0
Affected Version: < 4.0
CVSS: 5.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-613 · Insufficient Session Expiration
CVE: CVE-2012-5868

At a glance

CVE-2012-5868 is a medium-severity Insufficient Session Expiration vulnerability in the WordPress 4.0 WordPress release line, affecting < 4.0. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2012.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress Core before 4.0 does not invalidate a wordpress_sec session cookie upon an administrator's logout action, which makes it easier for remote attackers to discover valid session identifiers via a brute-force attack, or modify data via a replay attack.

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.

CWE-613: Insufficient Session Expiration

According to WASC, Insufficient Session Expiration is when a web site permits an attacker to reuse old session credentials or session IDs for authorization.

Remediation

Update to version 4.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The fix is the thing that ends this: updating to 4.0 is the step that ends it.

Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-5868 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3cf00aef-427b-4256-9cbd-83c8e5059ecf https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5868

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 4.0

CVSS Vector

5.4

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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