Merge + Minify + Refresh <= 1.10.7 - Cross-Site Request Forgery leading to Arbitrary File Deletion and Site Reset
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.10.8
- Affected Plugin
- Merge + Minify + Refresh
- Affected Version
< 1.10.8- CVSS
- 8.3High
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE pending
At a glance
This record tracks a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Merge + Minify + Refresh WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.10.8. It carries a CVSS score of 8.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 1.10.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2020, reported by Glyn Wintle.
Vulnerability Overview
The Merge + Minify + Refresh plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.10.7. This is due to missing nonce validation in the plugin. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to exploit path traversal vulnerabilities via forged request granted they can trick any logged-in site user into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
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 interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on integrity, availability.
CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in Merge + Minify + Refresh < 1.10.8 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For Merge + Minify + Refresh the fix is 1.10.8: builds < 1.10.8 are affected, anything from 1.10.8 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.10.8, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Merge + Minify + Refresh: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Merge + Minify + Refresh 1.10.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Same weakness class
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