CVE-2021-4443

WordPress Mega Menu <= 2.0.6 - Arbitrary File Creation

2021-02-22 00:00
MikelGorraiz

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 2.0.7
Affected Plugin
QuadMenu – Mega Menu
Affected Version
<= 2.0.6
CVSS
9.8Critical
Weakness type
CWE-434 · Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type
CVE
CVE-2021-4443
View all QuadMenu – Mega Menu vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2021-4443 is a critical-severity Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type vulnerability in the QuadMenu WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 2.0.6. 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 2.0.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2021, reported by MikelGorraiz.

Vulnerability Overview

The WordPress Mega Menu plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary File Creation in versions up to, and including, 2.0.6 via the compiler_save AJAX action. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to create arbitrary PHP files that can be used to execute malicious code.

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-434: Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type

Reaching this weakness in QuadMenu <= 2.0.6 takes a caller who can reach the endpoint. An unrestricted file upload lets a caller store a file whose type or destination the application does not properly constrain.

If an uploaded file lands anywhere the server will execute, the flaw becomes remote code execution and the site should be treated as fully compromised. For QuadMenu the fix is 2.0.7: builds <= 2.0.6 are affected, anything from 2.0.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 2.0.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

The attempt arrives as an ordinary request to QuadMenu: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: QuadMenu 2.0.7 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

Related records

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