CVE-2015-8351

Gwolle Guestbook <= 1.5.3 - Remote File Inclusion

2015-11-04 00:00
High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.5.4
Affected Plugin
Gwolle Guestbook
Affected Version
< 1.5.4
CVSS
9.0Critical
Weakness type
CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE
CVE-2015-8351
View all Gwolle Guestbook vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2015-8351 is a critical-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Gwolle Guestbook WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.5.4. It carries a CVSS score of 9.0 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.5.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2015, reported by High-Tech Bridge Security Research Lab.

Vulnerability Overview

PHP remote file inclusion vulnerability in the Gwolle Guestbook plugin before 1.5.4 for WordPress, when allow_url_include is enabled, allows remote authenticated users to execute arbitrary PHP code via a URL in the abspath parameter to frontend/captcha/ajaxresponse.php. NOTE: this can also be leveraged to include and execute arbitrary local files via directory traversal sequences regardless of whether allow_url_include is enabled.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, 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-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Reaching this weakness in Gwolle Guestbook < 1.5.4 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Gwolle Guestbook the fix is 1.5.4: builds < 1.5.4 are affected, anything from 1.5.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.5.4, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Gwolle Guestbook: 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: Gwolle Guestbook 1.5.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8351https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e32a2644-df8a-4aea-8e70-49ab3075be9ehttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8351

Related records

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