CVE-2023-27414

Popup box <= 3.4.4 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via 'ays_pb_tab' Parameter

2023-03-08 00:00
Nguyen Xuan Chien

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.4.5
Affected Plugin
Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups
Affected Version
<= 3.4.4
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2023-27414
View all Popup Box – Create Countdown, Coupon, Video, Contact Form Popups vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-27414 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Popup Box WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.4.4. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 3.4.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2023, reported by Nguyen Xuan Chien.

Vulnerability Overview

The Popup box plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Reflected Cross-Site Scripting via the 'ays_pb_tab' parameter in versions up to, and including, 3.4.4 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

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')

Popup Box <= 3.4.4 carries this weakness at ays_pb_tab, 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 Popup Box the fix is 3.4.5: builds <= 3.4.4 are affected, anything from 3.4.5 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.4.5, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Popup Box: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Popup Box 3.4.5 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-27414https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/01f60df7-0602-4a00-9905-a91348811dfehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-27414

Related records

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