Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.0
- Affected Plugin
- BackupBuddy
- Affected Version
< 3.0- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
- CVE
CVE-2013-2741
At a glance
CVE-2013-2741 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the BackupBuddy WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 3.0. 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 3.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2013, reported by Rob Armstrong.
Vulnerability Overview
importbuddy.php in the BackupBuddy plugin 1.3.4, 2.1.4, 2.2.25, 2.2.28, and 2.2.4 for WordPress does not require that authentication be enabled, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information, or overwrite or delete files, via vectors involving a (1) direct request, (2) step=1 request, (3) step=2 or step=3 request, or (4) step=7 request.
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-287: Improper Authentication
Reaching this weakness in BackupBuddy < 3.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.
An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For BackupBuddy the fix is 3.0: builds < 3.0 are affected, anything from 3.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: BackupBuddy 3.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C