CVE-2015-9436

Dynamic Widgets <= 1.5.10 - Cross-Site Scripting

2015-08-11 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.5.11
Affected Plugin: Dynamic Widgets
Affected Version: < 1.5.11
CVSS: 5.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2015-9436

View all Dynamic Widgets vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2015-9436 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Dynamic Widgets WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.5.11. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 1.5.11; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2015, reported by Marcin Probola.

Vulnerability Overview

The dynamic-widgets plugin before 1.5.11 for WordPress has XSS via the wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=term_tree prefix or widget_id parameter.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Reaching this weakness in Dynamic Widgets < 1.5.11 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 Dynamic Widgets the fix is 1.5.11: builds < 1.5.11 are affected, anything from 1.5.11 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.5.11, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Dynamic Widgets: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Dynamic Widgets 1.5.11 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-9436 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/8d4a546a-1c15-4fc5-a2ae-8640457a0c22 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-9436

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Dynamic Widgets

CVSS Vector

5.4

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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/