Category and Page Icons <= 0.9.1 - Arbitrary File Upload and Deletion
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 0.9.2
- Affected Plugin
- Category and Page Icons
- Affected Version
<= 0.9.1- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the Category and Page Icons WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.9.1. 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 0.9.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2014, reported by KingSkrupellos.
Vulnerability Overview
The Category and Page Icons plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Upload and Deletion due to a directory traversal weakness and missing file type validation in the wpdev-flash-uploader.php file in versions up to, and including, 0.9.1. This makes it possible for attackers to delete arbitrary files and upload arbitrary files on the affected sites server which may make remote code execution possible.
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-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
Reaching this weakness in Category and Page Icons <= 0.9.1 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.
If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For Category and Page Icons the fix is 0.9.2: builds <= 0.9.1 are affected, anything from 0.9.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 0.9.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Category and Page Icons: 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: Category and Page Icons 0.9.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
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