Limit Login Attempts Reloaded <= 2.15.2 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.17.4
- Affected Plugin
- Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention
- Affected Version
<= 2.15.2- CVSS
- 6.1Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
- CVE
CVE-2020-35589
At a glance
CVE-2020-35589 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Limit Login Attempts Security WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.15.2. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 2.17.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2020, reported by n4nj0.
Vulnerability Overview
The limit-login-attempts-reloaded plugin before 2.17.4 for WordPress allows wp-admin/options-general.php?page=limit-login-attempts&tab= XSS. A malicious user can cause an administrator user to supply dangerous content to the vulnerable page, which is then reflected back to the user and executed by the web browser. The most common mechanism for delivering malicious content is to include it as a parameter in a URL that is posted publicly or e-mailed directly to victims.
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 Limit Login Attempts Security <= 2.15.2 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. For Limit Login Attempts Security the fix is 2.17.4: builds <= 2.15.2 are affected, anything from 2.17.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.17.4, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Limit Login Attempts Security: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Limit Login Attempts Security 2.17.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
Other vulnerabilities in Limit Login Attempts Security – Login Security, 2FA, Firewall, Brute Force Prevention
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