CVE-2016-6565

NextGen Gallery <= 2.1.56 - Remote File Inclusion

2016-11-15 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.1.57
Affected Plugin: Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery
Affected Version: <= 2.1.56
CVSS: 7.5High
Weakness type: CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE: CVE-2016-6565

View all Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2016-6565 is a high-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.1.56. It carries a CVSS score of 7.5 (reachable over the network; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). The issue is fixed in version 2.1.57; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2016, reported by Mukhammad Khalilov.

Vulnerability Overview

The Imagely NextGen Gallery plugin for Wordpress prior to version 2.1.57 does not properly validate user input in the cssfile parameter of a HTTP POST request, which may allow an authenticated user to read arbitrary files from the server, or execute arbitrary code on the server in some circumstances (dependent on server configuration).

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Reaching this weakness in Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes <= 2.1.56 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes the fix is 2.1.57: builds <= 2.1.56 are affected, anything from 2.1.57 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.1.57, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes 2.1.57 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Scanner
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-6565 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/f0de8ff3-ac03-4640-829d-66a8496aa8aa https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-6565

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery

CVSS Vector

7.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityHigh
Privileges RequiredLow
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh

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