Profile Builder – User Profile & User Registration Forms Plugin < 1.1.60 - Authentication Bypass

2014-05-06 00:00
Anonymous

Strategic Overview

At a glance

This record tracks a critical-severity Improper Authentication vulnerability in the User Profile Builder WordPress plugin, affecting versions < 1.1.60. It carries a CVSS score of 9.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 1.1.60; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed May 2014.

Vulnerability Overview

The Profile Builder – User Profile & User Registration Forms Plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to authentication bypass in versions up to, and including, 1.1.59. This is due to a failure to restrict access on the password reset form. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to reset passwords of user accounts, including administrator accounts.

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. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-287: Improper Authentication

Reaching this weakness in User Profile Builder < 1.1.60 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. Improper authentication means the mechanism that proves who a caller is can be satisfied without the secret it was supposed to require.

An attacker authenticates as another user — administrators included — without ever knowing a password, so password policies and login rate limits never come into play. For User Profile Builder the fix is 1.1.60: builds < 1.1.60 are affected, anything from 1.1.60 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 1.1.60, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: User Profile Builder 1.1.60 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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