All in One SEO Pack <= 2.3.7 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

2016-07-13 00:00
Panagiotis Vagenas

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.3.8
Affected Plugin
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights)
Affected Version
< 2.3.8
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE pending
View all All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the All in One SEO WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.3.8. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.3.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2016, reported by Panagiotis Vagenas.

Vulnerability Overview

The All in One SEO Pack plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthenticated stored Cross-Site Scripting via unspecified vectors that make it possible for attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts into web pages that will execute when a victim accesses the page in versions up to, and including, 2.3.7. Please note that this exploit only works if the user has enabled the sitemap module in the plugin.

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.

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

Reaching this weakness in All in One SEO < 2.3.8 takes no account at all. 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 All in One SEO the fix is 2.3.8: builds < 2.3.8 are affected, anything from 2.3.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.3.8, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: All in One SEO 2.3.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/c490e344-66da-4176-bd93-7e07a491bfa9

Related records

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