CVE-2016-1000138

Indexisto <= 1.0.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting

2016-10-10 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Unpatched
Affected Plugin: indexisto
Affected Version: <= 1.0.5
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2016-1000138

At a glance

CVE-2016-1000138 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the indexisto WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.0.5. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. No fixed release has been reported yet; treat installations running this software as exposed. Disclosed October 2016, reported by Larry W. Cashdollar.

Vulnerability Overview

Reflected XSS in wordpress plugin indexisto v1.0.5 via indexisto_index parameter.

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

Reaching this weakness in indexisto <= 1.0.5 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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. No fixed build of this plugin is recorded for indexisto yet, so installs running <= 1.0.5 stay exposed until the vendor ships one.

Remediation

No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to indexisto: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. No patched version is recorded yet, which is the case where a filtering layer matters most, because there is nothing to update to.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1000138 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/ae53b67a-1df9-499a-a232-cf7560a3cf02 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1000138

CVSS Vector

6.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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