CVE-2016-5838

WordPress Core < 4.5.3 - Password Change via Stolen Cookie

2016-06-18 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 3.7.15
Affected Core: WordPress 4.5
Affected Version: 3.7 – 4.5.2 · 10 branches
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
CVE: CVE-2016-5838

At a glance

CVE-2016-5838 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the WordPress 4.5 WordPress release line, affecting 3.7 – 4.5.2 · 10 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.7.15; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2016, reported by Michael Adams.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress before 4.5.3 allows remote attackers to bypass intended password-change restrictions by leveraging knowledge of a cookie.

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.

CWE-285: Improper Authorization

Reaching this weakness in WordPress 4.5 3.7 – 4.5.2 · 10 branches 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 4.5 the fix is 3.7.15: builds 3.7 – 4.5.2 · 10 branches are affected, anything from 3.7.15 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.7.15, 3.8.15, 3.9.13, 4.0.12, 4.1.12, 4.2.9, 4.3.5, 4.4.4, 4.5.3

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 3.7.15 is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-5838 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/eb56da48-c928-42d4-8c71-de72f879d430 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-5838

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 4.5

CVSS Vector

5.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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