CVE-2023-0291

Quiz And Survey Master <= 8.0.8 - Unauthenticated Arbitrary Media Deletion

2023-02-15 00:00
Julien Ahrens

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 8.0.9
Affected Plugin
Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker
Affected Version
<= 8.0.8
CVSS
7.2High
Weakness type
CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
CVE
CVE-2023-0291
View all Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) – Quiz Maker & Survey Maker vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2023-0291 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 8.0.8. 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 8.0.9; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed February 2023, reported by Julien Ahrens.

Vulnerability Overview

The Quiz And Survey Master for WordPress is vulnerable to authorization bypass due to a missing capability check on the function associated with the qsm_remove_file_fd_question AJAX action in versions up to, and including, 8.0.8. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary media files.

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-862: Missing Authorization

Reaching this weakness in Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) <= 8.0.8 takes no account at all. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.

Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) the fix is 8.0.9: builds <= 8.0.8 are affected, anything from 8.0.9 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 8.0.9, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

This one needs no account at all, which puts it outside what login hardening can reach; WordSec's login security narrows the account-level paths around it, and the firewall is what inspects the request itself. None of that substitutes for the fix: Quiz and Survey Master (QSM) 8.0.9 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Login Security
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-0291https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/68110321-db1a-4634-98cd-0afd3ec933b8https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-0291

Related records

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