CVE-2021-25051

Modal Window – create popup modal window <= 5.2.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Remote Code Execution

2021-12-05 00:00
Krzysztof Zając

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 5.2.2
Affected Version
< 5.2.2
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
CVE
CVE-2021-25051
View all Modal Window – create popup modal window vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-25051 is a high-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Modal Window WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 5.2.2. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 5.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021, reported by Krzysztof Zając.

Vulnerability Overview

The Modal Window WordPress plugin before 5.2.2 within the wow-company admin menu page allows to include() arbitrary file with PHP extension (as well as with data:// or http:// protocols), thus leading to CSRF RCE.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

Modal Window < 5.2.2 carries this weakness at include(), and reaching it 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 Modal Window the fix is 5.2.2: builds < 5.2.2 are affected, anything from 5.2.2 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 5.2.2, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Modal Window: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Modal Window 5.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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