Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.7.1
- Affected Plugin
- Limit Login Attempts
- Affected Version
<= 1.7.0- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-287 · Improper Authentication
- CVE
CVE-2012-10001
At a glance
CVE-2012-10001 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the Limit Login Attempts WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.7.0. 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 1.7.1; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2012.
Vulnerability Overview
The Limit Login Attempts plugin before 1.7.1 for WordPress does not clear auth cookies upon a lockout, which might make it easier for remote attackers to conduct brute-force authentication attempts.
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-287: Improper Authentication
Reaching this weakness in Limit Login Attempts <= 1.7.0 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.
An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For Limit Login Attempts the fix is 1.7.1: builds <= 1.7.0 are affected, anything from 1.7.1 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.7.1, 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: Limit Login Attempts 1.7.1 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Limit Login Attempts
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