CVE-2020-13644

Accordion <= 2.2.8 - Unprotected AJAX Action to Stored/Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2020-03-18 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.2.9
Affected Plugin: Accordions
Affected Version: < 2.2.9
CVSS: 6.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2020-13644

At a glance

CVE-2020-13644 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Accordions WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.2.9. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 2.2.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2020, reported by Chloe Chamberland.

Vulnerability Overview

An issue was discovered in the Accordion plugin before 2.2.9 for WordPress. The unprotected AJAX wp_ajax_accordions_ajax_import_json action allowed any authenticated user with Subscriber or higher permissions the ability to import a new accordion and inject malicious JavaScript as part of the accordion.

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 Accordions < 2.2.9 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 Accordions the fix is 2.2.9: builds < 2.2.9 are affected, anything from 2.2.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.2.9, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Accordions: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Accordions 2.2.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-13644 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/26d504fe-38f6-4b50-ae07-c50e35fcb9e0 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-13644

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Accordions

CVSS Vector

6.4

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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