Clockwork SMS Plugins - Multiple Versions - Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.4.1
- Affected Plugin
- Contact Form 7 – Clockwork SMS
- Affected Version
<= 2.3.0- CVSS
- 6.1Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2017-17780
At a glance
CVE-2017-17780 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Contact Form 7 WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.3.0. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.4.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2017, reported by Dimopoulos Elias.
Vulnerability Overview
The Clockwork SMS clockwork-test-message.php component has XSS via a crafted "to" parameter in a clockwork-test-message request to wp-admin/admin.php. This component code is found in the following WordPress plugins: Clockwork Free and Paid SMS Notifications 2.0.3, Two-Factor Authentication - Clockwork SMS 1.0.2, Booking Calendar - Clockwork SMS 1.0.5, Contact Form 7 - Clockwork SMS 2.3.0, Fast Secure Contact Form - Clockwork SMS 2.1.2, Formidable - Clockwork SMS 1.0.2, Gravity Forms - Clockwork SMS 2.2, and WP e-Commerce - Clockwork SMS 2.0.5.
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.
CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
Reaching this weakness in Contact Form 7 <= 2.3.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.
Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Contact Form 7 the fix is 2.4.1: builds <= 2.3.0 are affected, anything from 2.4.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.4.1, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Contact Form 7: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Contact Form 7 2.4.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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