Crayon Syntax Highlighter Plugin <= 1.13 - Remote File Inclusion

2012-10-15 00:00
Charlie Eriksen

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.14
Affected Plugin
Crayon Syntax Highlighter
Affected Version
<= 1.13
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE
CVE pending
View all Crayon Syntax Highlighter vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a critical-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Crayon Syntax Highlighter WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.13. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.14; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2012, reported by Charlie Eriksen.

Vulnerability Overview

The Crayon Syntax Highlighter plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Remote File Inclusion in versions up to, and including, 1.13 via the crayon_is_php_file function. This allows unauthenticated attackers to include remote files on the server, resulting in code execution.

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

CWE-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Reaching this weakness in Crayon Syntax Highlighter <= 1.13 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Crayon Syntax Highlighter the fix is 1.14: builds <= 1.13 are affected, anything from 1.14 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.14, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Crayon Syntax Highlighter: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Crayon Syntax Highlighter 1.14 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/eff47e59-9a2c-424f-b138-47fcf554c06b

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