CVE-2014-9473

cformsII < 14.8 - Arbitrary File Upload

2014-12-29 00:00
Zakhar Fedotkin

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 14.8
Affected Plugin
cformsII
Affected Version
< 14.8
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
CVE
CVE-2014-9473
View all cformsII vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2014-9473 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the cformsII WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 14.8. 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 14.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2014, reported by Zakhar Fedotkin.

Vulnerability Overview

Unrestricted file upload vulnerability in lib_nonajax.php in the CformsII plugin 14.7 and earlier for WordPress allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by uploading a file with an executable extension via the cf_uploadfile2[] parameter, then accessing the file via a direct request to the file in the default upload directory.

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 cformsII < 14.8 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 cformsII the fix is 14.8: builds < 14.8 are affected, anything from 14.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 14.8, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to cformsII: 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: cformsII 14.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-9473https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/22356f42-af5e-4479-919c-9ceac42e686fhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-9473

Related records

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