Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox – Flagallery Photo Portfolio < 3.1.0 - Arbitrary File Deletion

2012-12-24 00:00
Janek Vind

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 3.1.0
Affected Plugin
Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox – Flagallery Photo Portfolio
Affected Version
< 3.1.0
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-22 · Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE
CVE pending
View all Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox – Flagallery Photo Portfolio vulnerabilities

At a glance

This record tracks a high-severity Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') vulnerability in the Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 3.1.0. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 3.1.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2012, reported by Janek Vind.

Vulnerability Overview

The Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox – Flagallery Photo Portfolio plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file deletion via path traversal in versions up to, and including, 3.0.1 via the 'delete' parameter. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers to delete the contents of arbitrary files on the server, which can contain sensitive information.

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

CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox < 3.1.0 carries this weakness at delete, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Path traversal happens when user-controlled text is used to build a filesystem path without being constrained to an intended directory, so sequences like ../ walk the resolved path somewhere else.

Depending on the operation, it means reading files outside the intended folder — wp-config.php being the usual target — or writing to and deleting paths the web server can touch. For Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox the fix is 3.1.0: builds < 3.1.0 are affected, anything from 3.1.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 3.1.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Album and Image Gallery with Lightbox 3.1.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/6d5ef392-6aea-4fab-95ce-d36d1cd17026

Related records

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