CVE-2020-36503

Connections Business Directory <= 9.6 - Authenticated CSV Injection

2020-05-29 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 9.7
Affected Plugin: Connections Business Directory
Affected Version: <= 9.6
CVSS: 7.3High
Weakness type: CWE-74 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
CVE: CVE-2020-36503

View all Connections Business Directory vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2020-36503 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection') vulnerability in the Connections Business Directory WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 9.6. It carries a CVSS score of 7.3 (low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 9.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2020, reported by Rudra Sarkar.

Vulnerability Overview

The Connections Business Directory WordPress plugin before 9.7 does not validate or sanitise some connections' fields, which could lead to a CSV injection issue

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as requiring local or adjacent access, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-74: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')

The product constructs all or part of a command, data structure, or record using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify how it is parsed or interpreted when it is sent to a downstream component.

Remediation

Update to version 9.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Connections Business Directory: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Connections Business Directory 9.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-36503 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/70f2c885-14b6-4ac3-b819-502bc618d9c9 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36503

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Connections Business Directory

CVSS Vector

7.3

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

Base

Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionRequired
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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