CVE-2023-44993

ChatBot <= 4.7.8 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via qc_wp_latest_update_check

2023-10-03 00:00
Kévin Mosbahi (Mika)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.7.9
Affected Plugin
WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services
Affected Version
<= 4.7.8
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE
CVE-2023-44993
View all WPBot – AI ChatBot for Live Support, Lead Generation, WordPress Automation, AI Services vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-44993 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the WPBot WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.7.8. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.7.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2023, reported by Kévin Mosbahi (Mika).

Vulnerability Overview

The ChatBot plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 4.7.8. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the qc_wp_latest_update_check function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to invoke this function via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.

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.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Reaching this weakness in WPBot <= 4.7.8 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.

An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For WPBot the fix is 4.7.9: builds <= 4.7.8 are affected, anything from 4.7.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.7.9, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to WPBot: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: WPBot 4.7.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-44993https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/be9522c8-3561-48fe-89ef-62e0fcb085b0https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-44993

Related records

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