Bad Behavior < 2.0.47 & 2.2.0 - 2.2.4 - Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.0.47
- Affected Plugin
- Bad Behavior
- Affected Version
2.0.47 – < 2.2.5 · 2 branches- CVSS
- 6.1Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2012-4271
At a glance
CVE-2012-4271 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Bad Behavior WordPress plugin, affecting versions 2.0.47 – < 2.2.5 · 2 branches. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.0.47; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2012, reported by SiNA Rabbani.
Vulnerability Overview
Multiple cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in bad-behavior-wordpress-admin.php in the Bad Behavior plugin before 2.0.47 and 2.2.x before 2.2.5 for WordPress allow remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the (1) PATH_INFO, (2) httpbl_key, (3) httpbl_maxage, (4) httpbl_threat, (5) reverse_proxy_addresses, or (6) reverse_proxy_header parameter.
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')
Reaching this weakness in Bad Behavior 2.0.47 – < 2.2.5 · 2 branches 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 Bad Behavior the fix is 2.0.47: builds 2.0.47 – < 2.2.5 · 2 branches are affected, anything from 2.0.47 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to one of the following versions, or a newer patched version: 2.0.47, 2.2.5
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Bad Behavior: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Bad Behavior 2.0.47 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
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