WordPress Core 5.6 - 6.3.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via Application Password Requests

2023-10-12 00:00
mascara7784

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.6.12
Affected Core
WordPress 6.3
Affected Version
5.6 – 6.3.1 · 8 branches
CVSS
6.1Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE pending
View all WordPress 6.3 vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the WordPress 6.3 WordPress release line, affecting 5.6 – 6.3.1 · 8 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.6.12; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2023, reported by mascara7784.

Vulnerability Overview

WordPress Core is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the ‘success_url’ and 'reject_url' parameters when requesting application passwords in versions between 5.6 and 6.3.1 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping of pseudo protocol URIs. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that execute if they can successfully trick a user into performing an action such as clicking on a link and accepting or rejecting the application password.

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-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

WordPress 6.3 5.6 – 6.3.1 · 8 branches carries this weakness at success_url, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 6.3 the fix is 5.6.12: builds 5.6 – 6.3.1 · 8 branches are affected, anything from 5.6.12 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 5.6.12, 5.7.10, 5.8.8, 5.9.8, 6.0.6, 6.1.4, 6.2.3, 6.3.2

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WordPress 6.3: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: updating to 5.6.12 is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a5368894-3277-47d0-8fad-adfb8df4fa93

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