CVE-2017-14126

Participants Database <= 1.7.5.9 - Unauthorized Cross-Site Scripting

2017-09-06 00:00
Benjamin Lim

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 1.7.5.10
Affected Plugin
Participants Database
Affected Version
<= 1.7.5.9
CVSS
6.1Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2017-14126
View all Participants Database vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2017-14126 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Participants Database WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.7.5.9. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.7.5.10; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2017, reported by Benjamin Lim.

Vulnerability Overview

The Participants Database plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Scripting via the 'Name' paremeter in versions up to, and including, 1.7.5.9 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts that execute in a victim's browser.

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.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Participants Database <= 1.7.5.9 carries this weakness at Name, and reaching it takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.

Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Participants Database the fix is 1.7.5.10: builds <= 1.7.5.9 are affected, anything from 1.7.5.10 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.7.5.10, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Participants Database: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Participants Database 1.7.5.10 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-14126https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/66717800-31ab-4e68-979a-4967dd2caeb8https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14126

Related records

Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C