CVE-2019-16289

Woody Ad Snippets <= 2.2.8 - Authenticated Cross-Site Scripting

2019-09-13 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.2.9
Affected Plugin: Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts
Affected Version: < 2.2.9
CVSS: 6.4Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2019-16289

View all Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2019-16289 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Woody Code Snippets WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.2.9. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 2.2.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2019, reported by GeneralEG.

Vulnerability Overview

The insert-php (aka Woody ad snippets) plugin before 2.2.9 for WordPress allows authenticated XSS via the winp_item 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 interaction from a victim user.

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

Reaching this weakness in Woody Code Snippets < 2.2.9 takes any authenticated account. 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 Woody Code Snippets the fix is 2.2.9: builds < 2.2.9 are affected, anything from 2.2.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.2.9, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Woody Code Snippets: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Woody Code Snippets 2.2.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-16289 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/11681152-e4f0-4cea-8fc8-f297368e4b15 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-16289

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Woody Code Snippets – Insert PHP, CSS, JS, and Header/Footer Scripts

CVSS Vector

6.4

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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