CVE-2019-19980

Email Subscribers & Newsletters <= 4.2.2 - Missing Authorization to Test Email

2019-11-13 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.2.3
Affected Plugin: Email Subscribers & Newsletters – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & Newsletter Plugin for WordPress
Affected Version: <= 4.2.2
CVSS: 4.3Medium
Weakness type: CWE-305 · Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness
CVE: CVE-2019-19980

View all Email Subscribers & Newsletters – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & Newsletter Plugin for WordPress vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2019-19980 is a medium-severity Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness vulnerability in the Email Subscribers & Newsletters WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 4.2.2. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The root cause is a missing authorization check on a reachable function. The issue is fixed in version 4.2.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2019, reported by Chloe Chamberland.

Vulnerability Overview

The WordPress plugin, Email Subscribers & Newsletters, before 4.2.3 had a privilege bypass flaw that allowed authenticated users (Subscriber or greater access) to send test emails from the administrative dashboard on behalf of an administrator. This occurs because the plugin registers a wp_ajax function to send_test_email.

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-305: Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness

The authentication algorithm is sound, but the implemented mechanism can be bypassed as the result of a separate weakness that is primary to the authentication error.

Remediation

Update to version 4.2.3, 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: Email Subscribers & Newsletters 4.2.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-19980 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/a04870e0-41c8-464b-b30e-0bf7900e1433 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-19980

Related records

Other vulnerabilities in Email Subscribers & Newsletters – Email Marketing, Post Notifications & Newsletter Plugin for WordPress

CVSS Vector

4.3

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityLow

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