PHP Compatibility Checker <= 1.5.2 - Cross-Site Request Forgery
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.6.0
- Affected Plugin
- PHP Compatibility Checker
- Affected Version
<= 1.5.2- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2023-24421
At a glance
CVE-2023-24421 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the PHP Compatibility Checker WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 4.3 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.6.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed April 2023, reported by Kévin Mosbahi (Mika).
Vulnerability Overview
The PHP Compatibility Checker plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in versions up to, and including, 1.5.2. This is due to missing or incorrect nonce validation on the start_test and cleanup function. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to start a new compatibility scan or delete scan results via a forged request granted they can trick a site administrator into performing an action such as clicking on a link.
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-352: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Reaching this weakness in PHP Compatibility Checker <= 1.5.2 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Cross-site request forgery abuses the fact that browsers attach a victim's cookies to any request, so a state-changing action that only checks who you are, not whether you meant to act, can be triggered from another site.
An attacker who gets a logged-in user to load a crafted page can perform that action as them, with the impact scaling to whatever the victim's role is allowed to do. For PHP Compatibility Checker the fix is 1.6.0: builds <= 1.5.2 are affected, anything from 1.6.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.6.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to PHP Compatibility Checker: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: PHP Compatibility Checker 1.6.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C