CVE-2020-28035

WordPress Core < 5.5.2 - Privilege Escalation via XML-RPC

2020-10-29 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.7.35
Affected Core: WordPress 5.5
Affected Version: 3.7 – 5.5.1 · 20 branches
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management
CVE: CVE-2020-28035

At a glance

CVE-2020-28035 is a high-severity Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in the WordPress 5.5 WordPress release line, affecting 3.7 – 5.5.1 · 20 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 3.7.35; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2020, reported by Justin Tran.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress before 5.5.2 allows attackers to gain privileges via XML-RPC.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 5.5 3.7 – 5.5.1 · 20 branches takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper privilege management means the code lets an account end up with capabilities its role should not have.

It converts a low-privileged account into an administrative one, which makes every other restriction on the site irrelevant. For WordPress 5.5 the fix is 3.7.35: builds 3.7 – 5.5.1 · 20 branches are affected, anything from 3.7.35 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.7.35, 3.8.35, 3.9.33, 4.0.32, 4.1.32, 4.2.29, 4.3.25, 4.4.24, 4.5.23, 4.6.20, 4.7.19, 4.8.15, 4.9.16, 5.0.11, 5.1.7, 5.2.8, 5.3.5, 5.4.3, 5.5.2

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 3.7.35 is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-28035 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f9bfa726-40e1-4417-9d59-289dbb3a17ff https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-28035

Related records

Same weakness class

8.8CVE-2020-28036: WordPress Core < 5.5.2 Privilege EscalationCVE-2020-28036

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 5.5

CVSS Vector

8.8

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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