CVE-2024-6397

InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration <= 0.1.0.44 - Authentication Bypass to Admin

2024-07-10 00:00
Truoc Phan

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 0.1.0.45
Affected Plugin
InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration
Affected Version
<= 0.1.0.44
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-288 · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
CVE
CVE-2024-6397
View all InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2024-6397 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability in the InstaWP Connect WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 0.1.0.44. 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 0.1.0.45; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2024, reported by Truoc Phan.

Vulnerability Overview

The InstaWP Connect – 1-click WP Staging & Migration plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in all versions up to, and including, 0.1.0.44. This is due to insufficient verification of the API key. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as any existing user on the site, such as an administrator, if they have access to the username, and to perform a variety of other administrative tasks. NOTE: This vulnerability was partially fixed in 0.1.0.44, but was still exploitable via Cross-Site Request Forgery.

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-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel

Reaching this weakness in InstaWP Connect <= 0.1.0.44 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authentication bypass through an alternate path means the application has a second route to a protected action that skips the checks the primary route performs.

The protection on the main path becomes irrelevant, because the attacker simply uses the route that never asks. For InstaWP Connect the fix is 0.1.0.45: builds <= 0.1.0.44 are affected, anything from 0.1.0.45 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 0.1.0.45, 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: InstaWP Connect 0.1.0.45 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-6397https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/963f2485-3afa-4e17-8278-b75415af3915https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-6397

Related records

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