Front End Upload < 0.5.4 - Arbitrary File Upload
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 0.5.4
- Affected Plugin
- front-end-upload
- Affected Version
<= 0.5.3- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the front-end-upload WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.5.3. 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 0.5.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2012, reported by Adrien Thierry.
Vulnerability Overview
The Front End Upload plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to arbitrary file uploads due to missing file type validation via the upload.php file in versions before 0.5.4. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files on the affected sites server which may make remote code execution possible.
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-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
Reaching this weakness in front-end-upload <= 0.5.3 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.
If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For front-end-upload the fix is 0.5.4: builds <= 0.5.3 are affected, anything from 0.5.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 0.5.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to front-end-upload: 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: front-end-upload 0.5.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Scanner
- Alerts
External References
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