CVE-2023-2735

Groundhogg <= 2.7.9.8 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Shortcode

2023-05-19 00:00
István Márton

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.7.10
Affected Plugin
Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation
Affected Version
<= 2.7.9.8
CVSS
4.9Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2023-2735
View all Groundhogg — CRM, Newsletters, and Marketing Automation vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-2735 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Groundhogg WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.7.9.8. It carries a CVSS score of 4.9 (reachable over the network). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.7.10; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2023, reported by István Márton.

Vulnerability Overview

The Groundhogg plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via the 'gh_form' shortcode in versions up to, and including, 2.7.9.8 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping on user supplied attributes. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers with contributor-level and above permissions to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page. Please note this only works with legacy contact forms.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no interaction from a victim user.

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

Groundhogg <= 2.7.9.8 carries this weakness at gh_form, and reaching it takes an account at Contributor level or above. 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 Groundhogg the fix is 2.7.10: builds <= 2.7.9.8 are affected, anything from 2.7.10 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.7.10, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Groundhogg 2.7.10 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-2735https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4938206e-2ea4-47ed-a307-87cf67dd74a4https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-2735

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C