Contact Form <= 3.82 - Authorization Bypass

2015-01-22 00:00
Voxel@Night

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.83
Affected Plugin
Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress
Affected Version
<= 3.82
CVSS
6.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE pending
View all Contact Form by BestWebSoft – Advanced WP Contact Form Builder for WordPress vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Contact Form by BestWebSoft WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.82. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 3.83; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2015, reported by Voxel@Night.

Vulnerability Overview

The Contact Form plugin WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass in versions up to, and including, 3.82. This is due to missing capability checks and nonce validation on the add and remove language AJAX functions. This makes it possible for authenticated subscriber+ attackers to use the AJAX actions to manipulate the language of the vulnerable service and potentially inject malicious web scripts.

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 interaction from a victim user.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Contact Form by BestWebSoft <= 3.82 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Contact Form by BestWebSoft the fix is 3.83: builds <= 3.82 are affected, anything from 3.83 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.83, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Contact Form by BestWebSoft 3.83 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/274e5568-b600-4085-8406-9f9d5d4fc35a

Related records

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