CVE-2013-1636

Pretty Links Lite < 1.6.3 - Stored Cross-Site Scripting

2014-08-01 00:00

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 1.6.3
Affected Plugin: PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links
Affected Version: < 1.6.3
CVSS: 7.2High
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2013-1636

View all PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2013-1636 is a high-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the PrettyLinks WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.6.3. It carries a CVSS score of 7.2 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.6.3; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed August 2014, reported by hip.

Vulnerability Overview

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in open-flash-chart.swf in Open Flash Chart (aka Open-Flash Chart), as used in the Pretty Link Lite plugin before 1.6.3 for WordPress, JNews (com_jnews) component 8.0.1 for Joomla!, and CiviCRM 3.1.0 through 4.2.9 and 4.3.0 through 4.3.3, allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via the get-data parameter.

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, and no interaction from a victim user.

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

Reaching this weakness in PrettyLinks < 1.6.3 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 PrettyLinks the fix is 1.6.3: builds < 1.6.3 are affected, anything from 1.6.3 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.6.3, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to PrettyLinks: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: PrettyLinks 1.6.3 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-1636 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e0d6ef49-288b-47d9-bbf2-dc31a6e3621e https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-1636

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in PrettyLinks – Affiliate Link Management, URL Shortener, Link Cloaking, Tracking & Branded Short Links

CVSS Vector

7.2

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

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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