CVE-2023-4281

Activity Log <= 2.8.7 - IP Address Spoofing

2023-09-01 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.8.8
Affected Plugin: Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes
Affected Version: <= 2.8.7
CVSS: 5.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-348 · Use of Less Trusted Source
CVE: CVE-2023-4281

View all Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-4281 is a medium-severity Use of Less Trusted Source vulnerability in the Activity Log WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.8.7. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.8.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2023, reported by Bartłomiej Marek.

Vulnerability Overview

The Activity Log plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to IP Address Spoofing in versions up to, and including, 2.8.7. This is due to insufficient restrictions on where the IP Address information is being retrieved for request logging. Unauthenticated attackers can supply the X-Forwarded-For header with with a different IP Address that will be logged instead of the users true IP address.

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-348: Use of Less Trusted Source

The product has two different sources of the same data or information, but it uses the source that has less support for verification, is less trusted, or is less resistant to attack.

Remediation

Update to version 2.8.8, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Activity Log: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Activity Log 2.8.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-4281 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/de821236-f878-46a4-9265-bcf6e8661910 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-4281

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes

CVSS Vector

5.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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