CVE-2022-42459

Image Hover Effects Ultimate <= 9.7.1 - Authenticated (Admin+) Arbitrary Options Update

2022-10-25 00:00
R3N0

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 9.7.2
Affected Plugin
Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier )
Affected Version
<= 9.7.1
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-639 · Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
CVE
CVE-2022-42459
View all Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2022-42459 is a high-severity Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key vulnerability in the Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 9.7.1. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Admin level or above. The issue is fixed in version 9.7.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed October 2022, reported by R3N0.

Vulnerability Overview

The Image Hover Effects Ultimate plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Options Update in versions up to, and including, 9.7.1. This is due to a lack of validation on the settings supplied to the post_oxi_settings() function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with administrative level permissions, to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. This would only affect sites where the administrator has been restricted to not 'manage_options' or the administrator has allowed users with lower permissions to update the plugin's settings.

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-639: Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key

Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) <= 9.7.1 carries this weakness at manage_options, and reaching it takes an account at Admin level or above. Authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, often called insecure direct object reference, means the application looks up a record by an identifier from the request without checking that the caller owns it.

Changing a number in the request is enough to read or modify other users' records, which on commerce and membership sites means customer data. For Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) the fix is 9.7.2: builds <= 9.7.1 are affected, anything from 9.7.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 9.7.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Image Hover Effects Ultimate ( Image Gallery, Effects, Lightbox, Comparison & Magnifier ) 9.7.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-42459https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/15c2cc20-8d10-4e77-8009-df91e171183fhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-42459

Related records

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