CVE-2015-9423

PlugNedit Adaptive Editor < 6.2.0 - Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting

2015-08-25 00:00
Marcin Probola

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 6.2.0
Affected Plugin
plugnedit
Affected Version
< 6.2.0
CVSS
5.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2015-9423
View all plugnedit vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2015-9423 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the plugnedit WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 6.2.0. It carries a CVSS score of 5.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account. The issue is fixed in version 6.2.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2015, reported by Marcin Probola.

Vulnerability Overview

The PlugNedit Adaptive Editor plugin before 6.2.0 for WordPress has Cross-Site Scripting via wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=simple_fields_field_type_post_dialog_load PlugneditBGColor, PlugneditEditorMargin, plugnedit_width, pnemedcount, or plugneditcontent parameters due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping. This makes it possible for Subscriber-level attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses an injected page.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed.

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

Reaching this weakness in plugnedit < 6.2.0 takes any authenticated account. 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 plugnedit the fix is 6.2.0: builds < 6.2.0 are affected, anything from 6.2.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 6.2.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to plugnedit: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: plugnedit 6.2.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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