CVE-2023-36528

kk Star Ratings <= 5.4.3 - IP Spoofing to Protection Mechanism Bypass

2023-07-17 00:00
Kévin Mosbahi (Mika)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.4.4
Affected Plugin
kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks
Affected Version
<= 5.4.3
CVSS
5.3Medium
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2023-36528
View all kk Star Ratings – Rate Post & Collect User Feedbacks vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-36528 is a medium-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the kk Star Ratings WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 5.4.3. It carries a CVSS score of 5.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.4.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2023, reported by Kévin Mosbahi (Mika).

Vulnerability Overview

The kk Star Ratings plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to IP Address Spoofing in versions up to, and including, 5.4.3. This is due to the plugin prioritizing obtaining a visitor's IP address from a spoofable HTTP header over PHP's REMOTE_ADDR. Attackers can supply a header with with a different IP Address that can be used to bypass the 'Unique votes (based on IP Address)' setting.

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.

CWE-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in kk Star Ratings <= 5.4.3 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. 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 kk Star Ratings the fix is 5.4.4: builds <= 5.4.3 are affected, anything from 5.4.4 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.4.4, 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: kk Star Ratings 5.4.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-36528https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/1c4fcaa5-357a-4b70-8653-3874a234f07dhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36528

Related records

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