CVE-2014-4663

Ajax Search Lite < 3.11 - Remote Code Execution

2014-06-24 00:00
@u0x (Pichaya Morimoto)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.11
Affected Plugin
Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter
Affected Version
< 3.11
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CVE
CVE-2014-4663
View all Ajax Search Lite – Live Search & Filter vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2014-4663 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the Ajax Search Lite WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 3.11. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.11; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2014, reported by @u0x (Pichaya Morimoto).

Vulnerability Overview

The Ajax Search Lite plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in versions up to, and including, 3.10 via the TimThumb’s "Webshot" feature. This allows unauthenticated attackers to execute code on the server.

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, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-94: Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Ajax Search Lite < 3.11 carries this weakness at Webshot, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Code injection means input from a request reaches a language construct that evaluates code, so the attacker's text is executed rather than treated as data.

The injected code runs with the web server's privileges, giving the attacker the same access to the database and filesystem as WordPress itself. For Ajax Search Lite the fix is 3.11: builds < 3.11 are affected, anything from 3.11 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.11, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Ajax Search Lite: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Ajax Search Lite 3.11 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-4663https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/b5a1baaa-d593-4559-953c-9393bde8d711https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-4663

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C