CVE-2023-23488

Paid Memberships Pro < 2.9.8 - Unauthenticated SQL Injection

2023-01-12 00:00
Joshua Martinelle

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.9.8
Affected Plugin
Paid Memberships Pro – Content Restriction, User Registration, & Paid Subscriptions
Affected Version
<= 2.9.7
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-89 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')
CVE
CVE-2023-23488
View all Paid Memberships Pro – Content Restriction, User Registration, & Paid Subscriptions vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-23488 is a critical-severity Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in the Paid Memberships Pro WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.9.7. 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 2.9.8; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed January 2023, reported by Joshua Martinelle.

Vulnerability Overview

The Paid Memberships Pro plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to SQL injection in versions before 2.9.8 via the 'code' parameter in the /pmpro/v1/order REST route. This allows unauthenticated attackers to append additional SQL queries into already existing queries that can be used to extract sensitive information from the database. 

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-89: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection')

Paid Memberships Pro <= 2.9.7 carries this weakness at code, and reaching it takes no account at all. SQL injection happens when request data is concatenated into a query instead of being bound as a parameter, letting an attacker change the structure of the statement rather than just its values.

A working injection can read any table the database user can see, which on a WordPress install means user records, password hashes and session or API secrets stored in options. For Paid Memberships Pro the fix is 2.9.8: builds <= 2.9.7 are affected, anything from 2.9.8 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.9.8, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Paid Memberships Pro 2.9.8 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-23488https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/9c7d2321-735a-4b5f-a36d-16375c994d2dhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-23488

Related records

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