CVE-2015-9358

FeedWordPress < 2015.0514 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2015-05-14 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2015.0514
Affected Plugin: FeedWordPress
Affected Version: < 2015.0514
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2015-9358

At a glance

CVE-2015-9358 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the FeedWordPress WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2015.0514. 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 2015.0514; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2015, reported by quassy.

Vulnerability Overview

The feedwordpress plugin before 2015.0514 for WordPress has XSS via add_query_arg() and remove_query_arg().

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')

FeedWordPress < 2015.0514 carries this weakness at add_query_arg(), and reaching it 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 FeedWordPress the fix is 2015.0514: builds < 2015.0514 are affected, anything from 2015.0514 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2015.0514, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to FeedWordPress: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: FeedWordPress 2015.0514 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-9358 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/108a2ea3-a612-46a2-b29a-7ae794f8470c https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-9358

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in FeedWordPress

CVSS Vector

6.1

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

Base

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

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