CVE-2022-2352

Post SMTP <= 2.1.6 - Authenticated (Administrator+) Blind Server-Side Request Forgery

2022-09-05 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 2.1.7
Affected Plugin: Post SMTP – Complete Email Deliverability and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App
Affected Version: <= 2.1.6
CVSS: 6.6Medium
Weakness type: CWE-918 · Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)
CVE: CVE-2022-2352

View all Post SMTP – Complete Email Deliverability and SMTP Solution with Email Logs, Alerts, Backup SMTP & Mobile App vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2022-2352 is a medium-severity Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability in the Post SMTP WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.6 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Administrator level or above. The issue is fixed in version 2.1.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed September 2022, reported by Raad Haddad.

Vulnerability Overview

The Post SMTP plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to blind Server-Side Request Forgery. This is due to improper authorization on some of the plugin's AJAX actions.

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-918: Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)

Reaching this weakness in Post SMTP <= 2.1.6 takes an account at Administrator level or above. Server-side request forgery means the application fetches a URL supplied by the caller, turning the server into a proxy for requests the attacker could not make directly.

The request originates from inside the hosting network, which is how these flaws reach cloud metadata endpoints, internal admin panels and services that trust local traffic. For Post SMTP the fix is 2.1.7: builds <= 2.1.6 are affected, anything from 2.1.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.1.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Administrator access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Post SMTP 2.1.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-2352 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/8cfcdc33-f5aa-4ca9-a2b6-30fcba174c85 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-2352

Related records

CVSS Vector

6.6

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredHigh
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityLow

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