Post Meta Data Manager <= 1.2.1 - Cross-Site Request Forgery to Post, Term, and User Meta Deletion
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 1.2.2
- Affected Plugin
- Post Meta Data Manager
- Affected Version
<= 1.2.1- CVSS
- 4.3Medium
- Weakness type
- CWE-352 · Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
- CVE
CVE-2023-5776
At a glance
CVE-2023-5776 is a medium-severity Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in the Post Meta Data Manager WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 1.2.1. 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 1.2.2; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2023, reported by Francesco Carlucci.
Vulnerability Overview
The Post Meta Data Manager plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Cross-Site Request Forgery in all versions up to, and including, 1.2.1. This is due to missing nonce validation on the pmdm_wp_ajax_delete_meta, pmdm_wp_delete_user_meta, and pmdm_wp_delete_user_meta functions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary user, term, and post meta 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 Post Meta Data Manager <= 1.2.1 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 Post Meta Data Manager the fix is 1.2.2: builds <= 1.2.1 are affected, anything from 1.2.2 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 1.2.2, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to Post Meta Data Manager: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Post Meta Data Manager 1.2.2 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.
- Firewall
- Alerts
External References
Related records
Other vulnerabilities in Post Meta Data Manager
- 8.8CVE-2023-5425: Post Meta Data Manager Authenticated (Subscriber+)
CVE-2023-5425 - 7.5CVE-2023-5426: Post Meta Data… User, Term, and Post Meta Deletion
CVE-2023-5426 - 7.2CVE-2024-13835: Post Meta Data Manager Authentciated (Admin+)
CVE-2024-13835 - 6.4CVE-2024-6264: Post Meta Data Manager <= 1.2.3 Stored XSS
CVE-2024-6264 - 5.3Post Meta Data Manager <= 1.2.0 Post, Term, and User Meta Deletion
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