CVE-2021-33852

Post Duplicator <= 2.23 - Cross-Site Scripting

2021-12-02 00:00
Anonymous

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.24
Affected Plugin
Post Duplicator
Affected Version
< 2.24
CVSS
6.4Medium
Weakness type
CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE
CVE-2021-33852
View all Post Duplicator vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-33852 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Post Duplicator WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 2.24. It carries a CVSS score of 6.4 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). The issue is fixed in version 2.24; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2021.

Vulnerability Overview

A cross-site scripting (XSS) attack can cause arbitrary code (JavaScript) to run in a user's browser and can use an application as the vehicle for the attack. The XSS payload given in the "Duplicate Title" text box executes whenever the user opens the Settings Page of the Post Duplicator Plugin or the application root page after duplicating any of the existing posts.

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 interaction from a victim user.

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

Reaching this weakness in Post Duplicator < 2.24 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 Post Duplicator the fix is 2.24: builds < 2.24 are affected, anything from 2.24 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.24, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Post Duplicator: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Post Duplicator 2.24 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-33852https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/c763a8d8-c31a-4c9f-8f0e-814cda91b860https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-33852

Related records

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