ACF Photo Gallery Field <= 1.9 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Usermeta Update
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 2.0
- Affected Plugin
- ACF Photo Gallery Field
- Affected Version
<= 1.9- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-285 · Improper Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2023-3957
At a glance
CVE-2023-3957 is a medium-severity Improper Authorization vulnerability in the ACF Photo Gallery Field WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.9. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed July 2023, reported by István Márton.
Vulnerability Overview
The ACF Photo Gallery Field plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data due to an insufficient restriction on the 'apg_profile_update' function in versions up to, and including, 1.9. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with subscriber-level permissions or above, to update the user metas arbitrarily. The meta value can only be a string.
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.
CWE-285: Improper Authorization
ACF Photo Gallery Field <= 1.9 carries this weakness at apg_profile_update, and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. Improper authorization means a permission check exists but does not cover the case being exercised, so a caller who is allowed to do one thing is allowed to do a neighbouring thing as well.
A lower-privileged account performs an action reserved for a higher one, which on a multi-author or membership site means an ordinary user reaching administrative behaviour. For ACF Photo Gallery Field the fix is 2.0: builds <= 1.9 are affected, anything from 2.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 2.0, 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: ACF Photo Gallery Field 2.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Related records
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