WordPress Core < 4.2.3 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.7.9
- Affected Core
- WordPress 4.2
- Affected Version
3.7 – 4.2.2 · 7 branches- CVSS
- 6.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2015-5622
At a glance
CVE-2015-5622 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the WordPress 4.2 WordPress release line, affecting 3.7 – 4.2.2 · 7 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 3.7.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2015, reported by Jon Cave.
Vulnerability Overview
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in WordPress before 4.2.3 allows remote authenticated users to inject arbitrary web script or HTML by leveraging the Author or Contributor role to place a crafted shortcode inside an HTML element, related to wp-includes/kses.php and wp-includes/shortcodes.php.
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-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in WordPress 4.2 3.7 – 4.2.2 · 7 branches takes an account at Contributor level or above. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For WordPress 4.2 the fix is 3.7.9: builds 3.7 – 4.2.2 · 7 branches are affected, anything from 3.7.9 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 3.7.9, 3.8.9, 3.9.7, 4.0.6, 4.1.6, 4.2.3
How does WordSec protect against this?
An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 3.7.9 is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
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Same weakness class
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