Header Footer Code Manager <= 1.1.34 - Cross-Site Request Forgery via process_bulk_action
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.1.35
- Affected Plugin
- Header Footer Code Manager
- Affected Version
< 1.1.35- CVSS
- 5.4Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2023-39989
At a glance
CVE-2023-39989 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Header Footer Code Manager WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.1.35. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.1.35; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2023, reported by Rafie Muhammad.
Vulnerability Overview
The Header Footer Code Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.1.34. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the 'process_bulk_action function'. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to activate, deactivate, and delete existing snippets via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
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-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in Header Footer Code Manager < 1.1.35 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Header Footer Code Manager the fix is 1.1.35: builds < 1.1.35 are affected, anything from 1.1.35 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.1.35, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Header Footer Code Manager: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Header Footer Code Manager 1.1.35 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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