CVE-2023-3452

Canto <= 3.0.4 - Unauthenticated Remote File Inclusion

2023-08-09 00:00
Marco Wotschka

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.0.5
Affected Plugin
Canto
Affected Version
<= 3.0.4
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE
CVE-2023-3452
View all Canto vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-3452 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Canto WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.0.4. 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 3.0.5; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2023, reported by Marco Wotschka.

Vulnerability Overview

The Canto plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote File Inclusion in versions up to, and including, 3.0.4 via the 'wp_abspath' parameter. This allows unauthenticated attackers to include and execute arbitrary remote code on the server, provided that allow_url_include is enabled. Local File Inclusion is also possible, albeit less useful because it requires that the attacker be able to upload a malicious php file via FTP or some other means into a directory readable by the web 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-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Canto <= 3.0.4 carries this weakness at wp_abspath, and reaching it takes no account at all. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Canto the fix is 3.0.5: builds <= 3.0.4 are affected, anything from 3.0.5 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.0.5, 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: Canto 3.0.5 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-2023-3452https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a76077c6-700a-4d21-a930-b0d6455d959chttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-3452

Related records

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