CVE-2023-3956

InstaWP Connect <= 0.0.9.18 - Missing Authorization to Unauthenticated Post/Taxonomy/User Add/Change/Delete, Customizer Setting Change, Plugin Installation/Activation/Deactication via events_receiver

2023-07-26 00:00
István Márton

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 0.0.9.19
Affected Plugin
InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration
Affected Version
<= 0.0.9.18
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2023-3956
View all InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-3956 is a critical-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the InstaWP Connect WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.0.9.18. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 0.0.9.19; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2023, reported by István Márton.

Vulnerability Overview

The InstaWP Connect plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized access of data, modification of data and loss of data due to a missing capability check on the 'events_receiver' function in versions up to, and including, 0.0.9.18. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to add, modify or delete post and taxonomy, install, activate or deactivate plugin, change customizer settings, add or modify or delete user including administrator user.

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, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

InstaWP Connect <= 0.0.9.18 carries this weakness at events_receiver, and reaching it takes no account at all. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For InstaWP Connect the fix is 0.0.9.19: builds <= 0.0.9.18 are affected, anything from 0.0.9.19 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.0.9.19, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: InstaWP Connect 0.0.9.19 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-3956https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/48e7acf2-61d4-4762-8657-0701910ce69bhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-3956

Related records

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