CVE-2020-8417

Code Snippets <= 2.13.3 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Remote Code Execution

2020-01-29 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.14.0
Affected Plugin: Code Snippets
Affected Version: <= 2.13.3
CVSS: 8.8High
Weakness type: CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE: CVE-2020-8417

At a glance

CVE-2020-8417 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Code Snippets WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.13.3. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.14.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2020, reported by Chloe Chamberland.

Vulnerability Overview

The Code Snippets plugin before 2.14.0 for WordPress allows CSRF because of the lack of a Referer check on the import menu.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

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

Reaching this weakness in Code Snippets <= 2.13.3 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 Code Snippets the fix is 2.14.0: builds <= 2.13.3 are affected, anything from 2.14.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.14.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Code Snippets: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Code Snippets 2.14.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-8417 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/0b230ff1-4971-4ec5-a0e9-21df90fc6e98 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-8417

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Code Snippets

CVSS Vector

8.8

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

This record contains material that is subject to copyright

CVE Usage: MITRE hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE®). Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce MITRE's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse

Defiant hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute this software vulnerability information. Any copy of the software vulnerability information you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you include a hyperlink to this vulnerability record and reproduce Defiant's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/