Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.11.4
- Affected Plugin
- OAuth 2.0 client for SSO
- Affected Version
<= 1.11.3- CVSS
- 9.8Critical
- Weakness type
- CWE-288 · Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
- CVE
CVE-2022-34858
At a glance
CVE-2022-34858 is a critical-severity Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel vulnerability in the OAuth 2.0 client for SSO WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.11.3. 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 1.11.4; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed June 2022.
Vulnerability Overview
The OAuth 2.0 client for SSO plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in versions up to, and including 1.11.3. This is due to the plugin accepting a user supplied email address that is passed to wp_set_auth_cookie() with no further identity validation to verify that the email supplied belongs to the user trying to log in with that email address. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to log in as a site administrator granted they have access to a site admin's email address.
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-288: Authentication Bypass Using an Alternate Path or Channel
OAuth 2.0 client for SSO <= 1.11.3 carries this weakness at wp_set_auth_cookie(), and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Authentication bypass through an alternate path means the application has a second route to a protected action that skips the checks the primary route performs.
The protection on the main path becomes irrelevant, because the attacker simply uses the route that never asks. For OAuth 2.0 client for SSO the fix is 1.11.4: builds <= 1.11.3 are affected, anything from 1.11.4 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.11.4, 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: OAuth 2.0 client for SSO 1.11.4 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
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