CVE-2023-6553

Backup Migration <= 1.3.7 - Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution

2023-12-11 00:00
Nex Team

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.3.8
Affected Plugin
Backup Migration
Affected Version
<= 1.3.7
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-94 · Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CVE
CVE-2023-6553
View all Backup Migration vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-6553 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') vulnerability in the Backup Migration WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.3.7. 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 1.3.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2023, reported by Nex Team.

Vulnerability Overview

The Backup Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote Code Execution in all versions up to, and including, 1.3.7 via the /includes/backup-heart.php file. This is due to an attacker being able to control the values passed to an include, and subsequently leverage that to achieve remote code execution. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to easily 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')

Reaching this weakness in Backup Migration <= 1.3.7 takes no account at all. 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 Backup Migration the fix is 1.3.8: builds <= 1.3.7 are affected, anything from 1.3.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.3.8, 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. 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: Backup Migration 1.3.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Login Security

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-6553https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/3511ba64-56a3-43d7-8ab8-c6e40e3b686ehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-6553

Related records

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