CVE-2014-6412

WordPress Core < 4.4 - Brute Force Password Recovery Tokens

2015-02-12 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.4
Affected Core: WordPress 4.4
Affected Version: < 4.4
CVSS: 7.5High
Weakness type: CWE-261 · Weak Encoding for Password
CVE: CVE-2014-6412

At a glance

CVE-2014-6412 is a high-severity Weak Encoding for Password vulnerability in the WordPress 4.4 WordPress release line, affecting < 4.4. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2015.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress before 4.4 makes it easier for remote attackers to predict password-recovery tokens via a brute-force approach.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality.

CWE-261: Weak Encoding for Password

Obscuring a password with a trivial encoding does not protect the password.

Remediation

Update to version 4.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The fix is the thing that ends this: updating to 4.4 is the step that ends it.

Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-6412 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b5e0b875-ba8c-438f-b2b1-6c713ef604e5 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-6412

Related records

Same weakness class

3.7CVE-2012-6707: WordPress Core - Informational Weak Hashing AlgorithmCVE-2012-6707

Other vulnerabilities in WordPress 4.4

CVSS Vector

7.5

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityNone

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